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This book is the only scientific biography of the Nobel Prize–winning Indian American chemist, Har Gobind Khorana. It begins with the story of Khorana’s origins in poverty in rural India and how he manages to emerge from that to be trained in chemistry in Britain and Switzerland before immigrating to Canada and the United States. Science was the dominant focus of Khorana’s life, and his biography is treated chronologically in conjunction with his scientific career.
The book explains in detail Khorana’s most important scientific achievements, his role in deciphering the genetic code (the reason for his Nobel Prize), the first synthesis of a functional gene in the laboratory, the elucidation of the idea behind the PCR technology that has since become ubiquitous in biotech, and his seminal studies of how structure determines the function of biological macromolecules in membranes. Finally, it focuses on his scientific legacy, and what his career means for future generations of scientists.
“How is it possible that a young man from an impoverished village in South Asia would go on to lay the foundations of modern chemical biology—from cracking the genetic code to DNA gene synthesis? In a testimonial to the spirit of human perseverance, Sarkar paints an engaging and detailed portrait of the life and work of H.G. Khorana, one of the great scientists of the twentieth century.” — Thomas P. Sakmar, M.D., Richard M. and Isabel P. Furlaud Professor, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA
Prologue; Preface; 1 Beginnings; 2 The Liverpool Years; 3 Swiss Interlude; 4 Through Cambridge to Vancouver; 5 The Genetic Code; 6 Total Synthesis of a Gene; 7 The Membrane Decades; 8 Later Years and Legacy; Acknowledgments; References; Index