The discovery of ribonucleic acid, orRNA, as a catalyst for chemical reactions in cells paved the way for the award of the chemistry prize to Sidney Altman.
The cause of death was not announced by Yale University, where Dr. Altman spent most of his career.
One of the central tenets of biology was changed by the discovery that RNA could function as an enzyme.
The 1989 chemistry prize was shared by Dr. Altman and the discovery of catalyticRNA has altered the central dogma of the biosciences.
The discovery suggested an answer to an old question about how the double-helix building blocks of life could have arisen without carriers. Dr. Altman's work suggested that the firstRNA molecule had come first.
In a 2010 interview, he said that he wasn't looking for what he found.
He studied how a small molecule carries genetic code. Some of the code isn't necessary, so it's cut out before it's used.
In 1978, Dr. Altman began studying the structure of the E. coli bacteria'sRNA-cutting enzyme. He separated the two pieces and tested them to see how they reacted in the process. He was surprised to find that the protein did not perform as an enzyme without the RNA molecule. He discovered that the catalyst could be the RNA molecule.
At the time, the theory was that the catalysts were the proteins.
The discovery of ribozymes was so radical that it was hard for Dr. Altman to accept it.
The community of molecular biologists, including several at Yale, accepted Dr. Altman's research when he first tried to get other scientists to do the same.
He had a hard time getting invited to speak at scientific meetings and getting his work published.
The research of Thomas R. Cech, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, aided in the validation of Dr. Altman's work.
The two most important and outstanding discoveries in the biological sciences in the past 40 years were declared to have a profound influence on our understanding of how life on earth began.
The institute is hopeful that the discoveries will lead to protections in organisms against viral infections, the creation of virus-resistant plants, and cures for viral infections like colds in humans.
The second son of Victor and Ray (Arlin) Altman was born in Montreal on May 7, 1939. His parents ran a grocery store.
He credited his parents with setting a good example that stayed with him for the rest of his life, even though the family had little money.
The detonation of the first atomic bomb and the periodic table of the elements gave Dr. Altman a sense of wonder when he was a boy.
When he was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he changed his mind and decided to enroll in his hometown of McGill University. He took an introductory course in molecular biology after studying physics at M.I.T.
He spent 18 months in a graduate physics program at Columbia University, but he said he was not happy there. He left Columbia because he wanted to be an experimental scientist and went back to Canada.
He was offered a job writing about science for an institute in Boulder, where he could also take summer courses.
He talked to George Gamow, a well-known physicist, at a party. He was fascinated with biophysics but dissatisfied with physics. The University of Colorado in Denver has a good biophysics department.
Dr. Altman met Leonard Lerman, a scientist who was doing research at the medical center, after he went down the next day. The two agreed that Dr. Lerman's students would be Dr. Altman's in the graduate program.
Dr. Lerman found Dr. Altman's direction. He worked in the laboratory of Mathew Stanley Meselson after obtaining a PhD in biophysics.
The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England was where Dr. Altman was able to join two years later. The lab was led by two of the most renowned scientists in the field: Francis Crick, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the structure of DNA, and Sydney Brenner, who would be a Nobel Laureate in 2002.
I felt like I was joining a group from the 1920s that was similar to the one of Niels Bohr.
He was an assistant professor at Yale after his work on transferRNA led him to Cambridge. He was dean of Yale College from 1985 to 1988 and chairman of the biology department from 1983 to 1985.
The Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at the University of Yale was founded by Dr. Altman, who was a Jew.
He retained his Canadian citizenship after becoming a United States citizen.
After arriving at Yale, Dr. Altman married Anne Korner. The marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by his family.
In the biological sciences, so much of what we observe is far beyond our grasp, according to Dr. Altman.
He said that an experiment in the biological sciences is one that tests one prediction in a way that allows the result.
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