Skip to content
Sidney Altman

File:Sidney_Altman_crop.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ102266· pop 60· linked from 285 articles

Sidney Altman

Sign in to save

Canadian American molecular biologist (1939-2022)

AI overview

Sidney Altman was a Canadian American molecular biologist who discovered that RNA molecules can act as catalysts to speed up chemical reactions in cells, a finding that challenged the previous understanding that only proteins could perform this function. This discovery, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989, fundamentally changed how scientists think about the role of RNA in living organisms.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1939
Died
2022
Works
3

Top works

  • International review of Swedish research in fundamental chemistry
  • Transfer RNA
  • Ribonuclease P

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Nobel Prize

  • The Nobel Prize in Chemistry1989

    for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA

    Shared · 1/2 portion

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Q3960161
Family name
Altman
Gender
male
Citizenship
Canada
Place of birth
Montreal
Place of death
Rockleigh
Occupation
biophysicist
Languages spoken
English language
Religion
Judaism
Field of work
biochemistry
Image
Sidney Altman crop.jpg
Number of children
2
Show 6 more facts
Commons category
Sidney Altman
date of birth
1939-05-07
name in native language
Sidney Altman
interested in
molecular biology
date of death
2022-04-05
Sources (11)

via Wikidata · CC0

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Sidney Altman (May 7, 1939 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R. Cech for their work on the catalytic properties of RNA.

Family and education

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Sidney Altman” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)