In the early 1980s, Sidney Altman discovered that ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules can act as enzymes. This disclosure, independently and concurrently made by Thomas R. Cech of the University of Colorado, broadened our understanding of the origins of life. Altman and Cech's work has not only had a "conceptual influence on basic natural sciences," according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but in addition, "the discovery of catalytic RNA will probably provide a new tool for gene technology, with potential to create a new defense against viral infections." As a result of their findings, Altman and Cech were jointly awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize for chemistry.

Altman was born in Montreal, Quebec, on May 8, 1939, the second son of Victor Altman, an immigrant grocer, and Ray Arlin. He attended West Hill High School in Montreal and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a bachelor of...