Marshall Warren Nirenberg

Born Apr. 10, 1927, in New York City. American biochemist. Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (1967) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1966).

Nirenberg received the M.S. degree from Florida State University in 1952, and then worked at the University of Michigan from 1952 to 1957. In 1957 he began working at the Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases. Since 1962 he has headed the biochemical genetics laboratory at the National Heart and Lung Institute.

Nirenberg’s main works are concerned with the interpretation of the genetic code. He demonstrated that polyuridylic acid serves as the matrix for polyphenylalanine synthesis and that the UUU (uracil-uracil-uracil) codon determines the inclusion of phenylalanine in the polypeptide chain during protein synthesis. Nirenberg, together with R. Holley and H. G. Khorana, was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1968.