Har Gobind Khorana Is Today's Google Doodle: 5 Things To Know About The Nobel Prize Winning Biochemist

He erased the lines between physics, chemistry and biology to crack the genetic code. Celebrating Nobel Prize winning biochemist Har Gobind Khorana on his 96th birthday. #GoogleDoodle https://t.co/JoF6RWnI9H pic.twitter.com/6TdScZCwsw

- Google India (@GoogleIndia) January 9, 2018

5 Things To Know About Har Gobind Khorana:

1.    Indian-American Biochemist Har Gobind Khorana was born in a small village in India's Raipur in January 9, 1922. He was the youngest of five children.

2. His father instilled the importance of learning by helping his children to read and write, which wasn't common for villagers at the time.

3. He was a bright student and had a passion for science. With several scholarships to his credit, he managed to get his doctorate in organic chemistry in 1948.

4. At the University of Wisconsin, he, along with Marshall W Nirenberg and Robert W Holley discovered that the order of nucleotides in our DNA determines which amino acids are built. These amino acids form proteins, which carry out essential cell functions. Together they received Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968.

5. His accomplishments didn't stop there. Fewer than five years later, Har Gobind Khorana made a second scientific breakthrough when he constructed the first synthetic gene. For this achievement, he received a host of awards during his lifetime, including the National Medal of Science.

Har Gobind Khorana died of natural causes on November 9, 2011 in Concord, Massachusetts. He was 89.