Severo Ochoa de Albornoz was born September 24, 1905, in Luarca, Spain. His father was a lawyer and businessman who died when Ochoa was seven. He had an interest in biology and was influenced by the publications of the Spanish neurologist and Nobel Laureate Santiago Ramón y Cajal. He completed his undergraduate studies in medicine and went on to become a molecular biologist. In 1959, he and Arthur Kornberg were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their study of enzyme reproduction in cells and the formation of RNA and DNA. Their pioneering research contributed much knowledge of how many of the basic building blocs in cells are made, such as carbohydrates, fatty acids, and nucleic acids. This knowledge later became indispensable in the fields of genetic and biochemical engineering.
