When Thomas Steitz, Ada Yonath, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the faculty of UCSC was puzzled.
When Thomas Steitz, Ada Yonath, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the faculty of UCSC was puzzled. The three received the prize for their “studies of the structure and function of the ribosome,” a part of the mechanism that translates nucleic acid into protein chains. But in that particular field, one name stands out more than others: biomolecular chemist Harry Noller of UCSC.
Noller joined the faculty of UCSC in 1968, after spending two years deciphering the molecular structure of ribosomes in Switzerland. It was he who determined that ribosomes are made up of RNA, though scientists generally rejected his hypothesis when he first suggested it. It is now commonly accepted and can be found in all biology textbooks. His later work on ribosomes, which helps drug makers pinpoint exactly where antibiotics will be effective, led to his induction in the National Academy of Science.
Though his email box was flooded with messages by colleagues and students expressing their disappointment, Noller is taking a more modest approach: “I’ve gotten more recognition than I deserve,” he says, adding, “Thousands of people have contributed to the structure of the ribosome, but not all of them can get a prize.” Perhaps, but this is one man who should. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
