Robert Holley is best known for isolating and characterizing transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA). Essentially tRNA Atranslates the genetic instructions within cells by first Areading@ genes, the fundamental units of heredity, and then creating proteinsBthe building blocks of the bodyBfrom amino acids. Holley, along with Har Gobind Khorana and Marshall Warren Nirenberg, received the 1968 Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology for determining the sequence of tRNA. However, Holley=s work on tRNA was only the beginning of a distinguished scientific career. Subsequently, he investigated the molecular factors that control growth and multiplication of cells. His work in this area has greatly contributed to scientific understanding of the processes that lead to cancer.

Robert William Holley was born in Urbana, Illinois, on January 28, 1922. His parents, Charles Elmer Holley and Viola Esther (Wolfe) Holley, were both teachers. Robert was one of four sons. He grew up in Illinois, California, and Idaho...