Sidney Altman (born May 7, 1939) is a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who is the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R. Cech for their work on the catalytic properties of RNA. Family and education Altman was born on May 7, 1939, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His parents, Ray (Arlin), a textile worker, and Victor Altman, a grocer, were immigrants to Canada, each coming from Eastern Europe as a young adult, in the 1920s. Altman's mother was from Białystok in Poland, and had come to Canada with her sister at the age of eighteen, learning English and working in a textile factory to earn money to bring the rest of their family to Quebec. Altman's father, born in Ukraine, had been a worker on a collective farm in the Soviet Union. He was sponsored to come to Canada as a farm worker, but later, as a husband and a
Sidney Altman (nacido el 7 de mayo de 1939) es un biólogo molecular canadiense-americano, que es el profesor Sterling de Biología Molecular, Celular y de Desarrollo y Química en la Universidad de Yale. En 1989 compartió el Premio Nobel de Química con Thomas R. Cech por su trabajo sobre las propiedades catalizadoras del ARN. Familia y educación Altman nació el 7 de mayo de 1939, en Montreal, Quebec, Canadá. Sus padres, Ray (Arlin), un trabajador textil, y Victor Altman, un comedor, eran inmigrantes a Canadá, cada uno venido de Europa del Este como un joven adulto, en la década de 1920. La madre de Altman era de Białystok en Polonia, y tuvo que venir a Canadá con su hermana a la edad de dieciocho años, aprendiendo inglés y trabajando en una fábrica textil para ganar dinero para traer al resto de su familia a Quebec.