Dr. Hargobind Khorana is one of the renowned biochemists of the world. He developed a method for the synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). For his independent contributions, he was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine, along with M.W. Norenberg and R.W. Holley.
Dr. Hargobind Khorana was born on 9th January 1922 at Rajpur in Punjab (now in Pakistan). He studied in a village school, and distinguished himself right from the beginning by winning many scholarships.
He passed his B.Sc. examination from D.A.V. College, Lahore and obtained his M.Sc. degree in chemistry in 1945 from Punjab University, Lahore. His main interest was biochemistry. He went to Manchester University, in England for higher studies. There he worked under Prof. A. Robertson and got his Ph.D. in 1948. In the same year he came back to India, but could not get a suitable job. He remained without a job for several months, and finally a disappointed man, he went back to England for further research. There he worked with Nobel laureate, Sir Alexander Todd at Cambridge University. And in 1952 he went to Canada and got married to the daughter of a Swiss M.P.
In 1953, Dr. Khorana was elected as the head of Organic Chemistry Group of Commonwealth Research Organization. He remained in this position upto 1960. In 1960 he went to the United States of America and started working with Norenberg on the creation of artificial life. In the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin, he developed methods to synthesize RNA and DNA. Due to his research it has now become possible to treat some hereditary diseases.
In 1970, he joined the Massachusset Institute of Technology as Professor of Biology. In addition to the 1968 Nobel Prize, he has been honoured with many prestigious international awards.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and was conferred with the honorary degree of D.Sc. by Punjab University, Chandigarh.