Severo Ochoa

Molecular biologist, born in Luarca, Spain. He taught and performed research in Europe before coming to the USA to join Washington University (St Louis) (1941–2). At New York University (NYU) (1942–74), he described the mechanism of the Krebs citric acid cycle, which generates cellular energy (1940s–1950s). In 1955 he isolated a bacterial enzyme with which he performed the first test-tube synthesis of various RNAs, enabling the eventual deciphering of the genetic code. For this he shared the 1959 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. After retiring from NYU, he moved to the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology (New Jersey) (1974–85), then returned to Spain as a professor at Universidad Autonoma, Madrid (1985).

Severo Ochoa de Albornoz (September 24, 1905 – November 1, 1993) was a Spanish-American biochemist, and the recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Severo Ochoa was born in Luarca (Asturias), Spain. His father was Severo Manuel Ochoa, a lawyer and businessman, and his mother, Carmen de Albornoz. His father died when Ochoa was seven and he and his mother moved to Málaga, where he attended school through high school. In 1931, Ochoa married Carmen Garcia Cobian, but they had no children. In 1942 he was appointed Research Associate in Medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and there subsequently became Assistant Professor of Biochemistry (1945), Professor of Pharmacology (1946), Professor of Biochemistry (1954), and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry. In 1959, Ochoa was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synthesis of RNA.

Ochoa continued research on protein synthesis and replication of RNA viruses until 1985, when he returned to Spain and gave advice to Spanish science policy authorities and scientists. Ochoa was also a recipient of U.S. National Medal of Science in 1979. Ochoa died in Madrid and a new research center that was planned in the 1970s, was finally built and named after Ochoa.