Sydney Brenner, one of the giants of 20th century science, has died.
He made many pioneering discoveries in the field of molecular and developmental biology, winning a Nobel Prize in 2002.
The award recognised his work with the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, which is now widely used by researchers as a model to test the fundamentals of how all living organisms work.
But Brenner also made big contributions to the understanding of DNA.
He worked routinely with the other greats in this area, such as Francis Crick, François Jacob, Linus Pauling and James Watson.
Brenner helped establish the role played by the molecule RNA in carrying the “code of life” held in the DNA sequence to the ribosome protein factories in cells.
He also realised the significance of codons – the sets of three bases in the DNA sequence that signify the correct string of amino acids the ribosomes should use to assemble the proteins.
Born in 1927, Sydney Brenner famously taught himself to read from the newspapers that were used as tablecloths at dinner time.
At the age of 15 he won a scholarship to medical school.
Image credit | Alamy