Welcome welcome one and all.. to the first letter of the alphabet.
The letter A. You’ll join Amanda and I won’t you?
I am so looking forward to seeing what others have to say. It’ll be fun eh?
For my part, I am intending to be talking about all things Canadiana as we go through the alphabet. Some will be obvious.. Like the provinces in our fine land, and others I am hoping, will be a bit more obscure. All in all I hope that we all can learn more about my lovely land of opportunity….. CANADA! 🙂
Today we start with Sidney Altman, a scientist who received the Nobel Prize in 1989 for his work in Chemistry.
Born in Montreal, Quebec in 1939 the son of working class immigrant parents. His dad owned a grocery store and his mom worked in a textile mill. Learning from his parents the value of hard work and determination, which served him well in the long run. As a youth he read anything he could get his hands on. Reading a book Explaining The Atom by Selig Hecht got him hooked on science.
Educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in physics, he later changed his major to biophysics. He studied chemical compounds called acridines, focuses on how they affected the replication of viruses that infect bacteria.
He had many false starts and job changes over the years, eventually finding himself working in England, which is where he started on the path leading to the Nobel Prize. His work led him back to the United States. Working with RNA (Ribonucleic acid) he, over a period of 20 years, discovers catalytic RNA, thus earning the Nobel Prize.
If you want to know more about this work
Thanks for the history lesson. This will be fun!
Yes, now on to read what others wrote
I loved reading this! When I saw the title, I knew that Sidney Altman's name looked familiar but couldn't place it. My degree was in biophysics as well, and I ran across his work in the course of my studies. All that was lifetimes ago and long before my life as a homeschooling mom, so it was really nice to read your post and take myself back to an earlier time… I will share your post and the video with my teens today – Thanks!!
Thank you. I am gold I could bring back a good memory.
What an amazing man! I have so much admiration for people who understand these huge scientific concepts. I like to think that I am smart, but when I look at people like this man, I realize how average I am. LOL
I'm so excited for this series! Thanks for hosting the linkup!
I know, though admittedly I am more impressed with his determination
Thank you for teaching me something today Annette! I am woefully ignorant of how people are chosen for the Nobel Prize, and who has won it.
🙂 I don't either…just thought he was a interesting character
Informative post! I learned something new, which is always a good thing! Its nice that we share this brilliant man as a Canadian and American resident.:)
I know, kinda neat eh?
Love Science. I learned something new also. Thanks for hosting.
Oh good. Thanks for joining in
What an interesting guy! We just read about Montreal this morning, too, in our book about the infamous Benedict Arnold.
Thanks for hosting, Annette!
Oh really? Amazing the connections we make eh?
Yay!! I love that you're going to be doing a series on Canada!
Smiles
This was fun to learn about! Canada is always fascinating to me! I hope to visit one day!
i hope you can visit sometime… Canada is a great land. 🙂
This will be a fun theme! I like learning that many famous, accomplished people had their own struggles and defeats.
Good ideas to grow off I find
What a fun theme! I can't wait to follow and learn more about Canada!
my lad has chosen the theme for next week… 🙂
I like your theme idea! And I learned something new today 🙂
oh, I'm glad!
Very neat! Such a fun theme; can't wait to join in!
it will be neat to see what you come up with