Severo Ochoa
Spanish-American biochemist (1905-1993) who first synthesized ribonucleic acid in the laboratory. He shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Arthur Kornberg for the discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid, work that opened the road to deciphering the genetic code.
Why this wins its question: English-language summaries of Ochoa usually omit the precise Nobel motivation and the Cajal-to-Ochoa lineage of Spanish biomedical science. This object binds every claim to the verified official Nobel biography — primary tier throughout.
Claims
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Severo Ochoa was born on 24 September 1905 in Luarca, Spain.
Ochoa shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Arthur Kornberg for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid.
Ochoa's isolation of the enzyme polynucleotide phosphorylase made possible the first laboratory synthesis of ribonucleic acid, and he cited Cajal's example as an inspiration of his student years in Madrid.
After leaving Spain in the 1930s, Ochoa carried out his Nobel-winning research in the United States, principally at the New York University School of Medicine, where he chaired the Department of Biochemistry.