Severo Ochoa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Severo Ochoa | |
 Severo Ochoa Statue outside the School of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid
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| Born | September 24, 1905 Luarca, Asturias, Spain |
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| Died | November 1, 1993 (aged 88) Madrid, Spain |
| Residence | Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, United States |
| Citizenship | Spanish (1905–93) American (1956–93) |
| Fields | Biochemist |
| Notable awards |  Nobel Prize (1959) |
Severo Ochoa de Albornoz (September 24, 1905 – November 1, 1993) was a Spanish-American biochemist, and the recipient of the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
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[edit] Life
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. His interest in biology was stimulated by the publications of the Spanish neurologist and Nobel awardee Santiago Ramón y Cajal. In 1923, he went to the University of Madrid Medical School, where he hoped to work with Cajal, but Cajal retired. In 1929, he obtained his MD degree with honors. In 1931, Ochoa married Carmen Garcia Cobian, but they had no children.
From then until 1938, he held many positions and worked with many people at many places. For example, Otto Meyerhof appointed him Guest Research Assistant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg for one year. From 1938 until 1941 he was Demonstrator and Nuffield Research Assistant at the University of Oxford. He then went to America, where he again held many positions at many universities. 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 1956, he became an American citizen. 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. The asteroid 117435 Severochoa is also named in his honour.
Severo Ochoa died in Madrid, Spain on November 1, 1993.
[edit] References
- Grisolia, Santiago (Feb 2004). "The tenth anniversary of the death of Severo Ochoa". IUBMB Life 56 (2): 55-7. PMID 15658003.
- Lane, M Daniel (Sep 2004). "The biotin connection: Severo Ochoa, Harland Wood, and Feodor Lynen". J. Biol. Chem. 279 (38): 39187-94. doi:. PMID 15166234.
- Maruyama, Koscak (Apr 2004). "[Severo Ochoa, an elegant and greatly fruitful scientist]". Tanpakushitsu Kakusan Koso 49 (5): 660-72. PMID 15071897.
- Santesmases, María Jesús (2002). "Enzymology at the core: primers and templates in Severo Ochoa's transition from biochemistry to molecular biology". History and philosophy of the life sciences 24 (2): 193-218. PMID 12961765.
- Coon, Minor J (Aug 2002). "Enzyme ingenuity in biological oxidations: a trail leading to cytochrome p450". J. Biol. Chem. 277 (32): 28351-63. doi:. PMID 12050174.
- Santesmases, M J (Dec 2000). "Severo Ochoa and the biomedical sciences in Spain under Franco, 1959-1975". Isis; an international review devoted to the history of science and its cultural influences 91 (4): 706-34. PMID 11284230.
- Santesmases, M J (Feb 2001). "Severo Ochoa (1905-1993): the changing world of biochemistry". Trends Biochem. Sci. 26 (2): 140-2. PMID 11166574.
- Shampo, M A; Kyle R A (Jan 2001). "Severo Ochoa--1959 Nobel Laureate". Mayo Clin. Proc. 76 (1): 42. PMID 11155412.
- Kornberg, A (Jan 2001). "Remembering our teachers". J. Biol. Chem. 276 (1): 3-11. PMID 11134064.
- Grunberg-Manago, M (1997). "Severo Ochoa, 24 September 1905-1 November 1993". Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Royal Society. Royal Society (Great Britain) 43: 349-65. PMID 11619980.
- Santos Ruiz, A (1994). "[Severo Ochoa de Albornoz]". Anales de la Real Academia Nacional de Medicina 111 (1): 16-39; discussion 40-9. PMID 7978117.
- Kornberg, A (Dec 1993). "Severo Ochoa (1905-93)". Nature 366 (6454): 408. doi:. PMID 8247145.
- Ernster, L (Dec 1993). "P/O ratios--the first fifty years". FASEB J. 7 (15): 1520-4. PMID 8262336.
- Grunberg-Manago, M; Ortiz P J, Ochoa S (1989). "Enzymic synthesis of polynucleotides. I. Polynucleotide phosphorylase of Azotobacter vinelandii. 1956". Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1000: 65-81. PMID 2673410.
- Lynen, F; Ochoa S (1989). "Enzymes of fatty acid metabolism. 1953". Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1000: 281-96. PMID 2673377.
- Ochoa, S (Sep 1980). "The thrill of discovery". Boll. Soc. Ital. Biol. Sper. 56 (18 Pt 2): 17-40. PMID 6779838.
- Ochoa, S (1980). "The pursuit of a hobby". Annu. Rev. Biochem. 49: 1-30. doi:. PMID 6773467.
- "Severo Ochoa" (1965). Triangle; the Sandoz journal of medical science 7 (4): 162-3. PMID 5325612.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Biography at nobelprize.org
- Remembering our teachers Arthur Kornberg J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 276, Issue 1, 3-11, January 5, 2001
