Robert Holley was best known for his isolation and characterization of transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA). Essentially, tRNA "translates" the genetic instructions within cells by first "reading" genes, the fundamental units of heredity, and then creating proteins--the building blocks of the body--from amino acids. Holley, along with Har Gobind Khorana and Marshall Warren Nirenberg, was awarded the 1968 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for determining the sequence of tRNA. But Holley's work on tRNA was only the beginning of a distinguished scientific career. Subsequently, he has investigated the molecular factors that control growth and multiplication of cells. His work in this area has had profound impact on understanding the processes that lead to cancer.

Robert William Holley was born in Urbana, Illinois. His parents, Charles Elmer Holley and Viola Esther (Wolfe) Holley, were both teachers. Holley grew up in Illinois, California, and Idaho, and early developed a life-long love...