Robert W. Holley was an American biochemist who was conferred with the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the structure of the alanine transfer RNA, linking DNA and protein synthesis. He shared the award with two other scientists, Har Gobind Khorana and Marshall Warren Nirenberg who made equivalently noteworthy interpretation of the genetic code and its function of the protein synthesis. Holley started his career as a postdoctoral fellow at the Washington State University. During this time, he spent much of his research time on the characterization of the metabolic transformations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. The work greatly differed from his subsequent work in the coming decades. Following a number of academic positions at various scientific institutions and universities, Holley finally moved to Cornell University where he indulged in the isolation, sequencing and deterring of the structure of the RNA, a work that earned him much praise, accolades and also the prestigious Nobel Prize award.
