Sydney Brenner was a South African molecular biologist whose path-breaking work on programmed cell death won him the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2002 (along with H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston). Born to immigrant parents, Brenner joined the University of the Witwatersrand at 15. He completed his PhD from the University of Oxford, obtained his MBBCh degree, and worked with the Medical Research Council in England. He established the Molecular Sciences Institute, delivered lectures at prestigious institutes such as the Salk Institute in California, and wrote scientific columns. However, his most significant work was his pioneering research on methods of studying cell development. He made the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans the model organism for such studies for its ease of use. He received numerous awards and accolades in his lifetime. He died in Singapore at the age of 92.
