American Philosophical Society
Member History

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1Name:  Dr. H. G. Khorana
 Institution:  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 Year Elected:  1973
 Class:  2. Biological Sciences
 Subdivision:  201. Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
 Residency:  Resident
 Living? :   Deceased
 Birth Date:  1922
 Death Date:  November 9, 2011
   
 
Har Gobind Khorana was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in Medicine, along with Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg, for describing the genetic code and how it operates in protein synthesis. The team discovered that RNAs with three repeating units produced two alternating amino acids, while RNAs with four repeating units produced only dipeptides and tripeptides. This led them to identify stop codons, and in turn to establish that the biological language common to all living organisms is spelled out in sets of three nucleotides for a specific amino acid. Born in India, Dr. Khorana earned his Ph.D. at Liverpool in 1948. He was the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with which he had been associated since 1969. Previously he served as head of the British Columbia Research Council's Organic Chemical Group (1952-60), as visiting professor at Rockefeller University (1958-60), and as professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin (1960-68). The author of many research publications in scientific journals, Dr. Khorana has been honored with the Lasker Award (1968), the Horowitz Prize (1968), the National Medal of Science (1987), and membership in the National Academy of Sciences. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1973. Dr. Khorana died November 9, 2011, at the age of 89 in Concord, Massachusetts.
 
Election Year
1973 (1)