Philip Allen Sharp is an American geneticist and molecular biologist won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for co-discovering RNA splicing. He shared the prize with Richard J Roberts; the two scientists worked independently on the subject. The duo discovered that individual genes are often interrupted by long sections of DNA that do not encode protein structure. The discovery was crucial as it crushed the age-old belief that genes were continuous stretches of DNA that served as direct templates for mRNA in the assembly of proteins. Sharp’s scientific career began when he pursued a doctorate in chemistry from University of Illinois. Having gained his PhD, he started working at the California Institute of Technology before moving to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. In 1971, he joined the Center for Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he conducted his prize-winning research. For his outstanding and noteworthy scientific career, he was bestowed with numerous awards and prizes.
