(Philadelphia, PA - March 2002) - The cover story of the current issue of The Scientist, "Going Strong at 75" (March 18, 2202), marks the 75th birthday Sydney Brenner, one of the most inventive and influential scientists of his generation.
Brenner made vital contributions to working out the genetic code and discovering messenger RNA. And without him it is inconceivable that the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, Would have become a major contributor to our understanding of cellular and developmental biology, and exceedingly unlikely that the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes, would have been one of the first vertebrates to have a draft genome sequence, which is likely to shed great light on the evolution of the human genome.
Born and educated in South Africa, Brenner arrived in England in 1952 and spent many years working in various capacities in Medical research Council laboratories in Cambridge. He is now a Distinguished Professor at the ...
