Written by Irma Velázquez
Every year since 1988, September has been dedicated to National Hispanic Heritage Month. It is of great importance that we take this time to honor and appreciate the vast contributions, both large and small, that Hispanic people have made to the United States and the world. Specifically, Severo Ochoa is someone who has completely transformed the scientific community and the way we interact with the natural world.
Severo Ochoa was born and raised in Spain. He obtained his B.A. from Málaga College
and later went to medical school at the University of Madrid. Ochoa decided that what interested him most was research rather than working with patients, and he dedicated his career to biochemical research. His training was extensive and he learned from some of the best scientists of his time, including Otto Meyerhof (winner of the Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle) and Juan Negrín (physician and former Minister of Finance of Spain). Ochoa was a lecturer in Physiology at the University of Madrid for several years, then moved to London to work in the National Institute for Medical Research, where he first got into enzymology.
Ochoa’s path crossed to the United States in 1941. He worked at Washington University,
NYU, and Wesleyan University, and obtained his American citizenship in 1956. The work that
eventually led him to receive a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1959 was the
synthesis of RNA, but he has given us so much more than that. According to the Nobel Prize
website, Ochoa’s findings have contributed to:
“The knowledge of basic steps in the metabolism of carbohydrates and fatty acids, the
utilization of carbon dioxide, and the biosynthesis of nucleic acids. It has included the
biological functions of vitamin B1, oxidative phosphorylation, the reductive carboxylation of ketoglutaric and pyruvic acids, the photochemical reduction of pyridine nucleotides in photosynthesis, condensing enzyme – which is the key enzyme of the Krebs citric acid cycle, polynucleotide phosphorylase and the genetic code.” [1]
Severo Ochoa is a great source of pride for the Hispanic community and he deserves all
our thanks. As this year’s theme for National Hispanic Heritage month, the National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers (NCHEPM) has chosen “inclusivity for a stronger nation”. Ochoa’s spirit of collaboration and teamwork in his profession has led to great success and he is an example of how, when we are united, better things happen.
References:
[1] Severo Ochoa – Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Mon. 26 Sep 2022. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1959/ochoa/biographical/>
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