A is for Sidney Altman

Welcome welcome one and all.. to the first letter of the alphabet.

The letter A.  You'll join Amanda and I won't you?
 
I am so looking forward to seeing what others have to say.   It'll be fun eh?

For my part, I am intending to be talking about all things Canadiana as we go through the alphabet.   Some will be obvious.. Like the provinces in our fine land, and others I am hoping, will be a bit more obscure.   All in all I hope that we all can learn more about my lovely land of opportunity..... CANADA!   :)


Today we start with Sidney Altman, a scientist who received the Nobel Prize in 1989 for his work in Chemistry.

Born in Montreal, Quebec in 1939 the son of working class immigrant parents.   His dad owned a grocery store and his mom worked in a textile mill.   Learning from his parents the value of hard work and determination, which served him well in the long run.   As a youth he read anything he could get his hands on.  Reading a book Explaining The Atom by Selig Hecht got him hooked on science.

Educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in physics, he later changed his major to biophysics.  He studied chemical compounds called acridines, focuses on how they affected the replication of viruses that infect bacteria.

He had many false starts and job changes over the years, eventually finding himself working in England, which is where he started on the path leading to the Nobel Prize.    His work led him back to the United States.   Working with RNA (Ribonucleic acid)  he, over a period of 20 years, discovers catalytic RNA, thus earning the Nobel Prize.

If you want to know more about this work

 

Mr. Altman remains a Canadian Citizen, though he is dual citizen with the USA.  His work with RNA continues. 

Sidney Altman, Canadian Citizen, winner of the Nobel Prize, Holder of the Letter A for this week of Blogging through the Alphabet. 

 

Feel free to link up your family friendly posts using the letter A this week. 

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