Sidney Altman

Sidney Altman (May 7, 1939 – April 5, 2022) was a Canadian-American biochemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R. Cech for their independent discoveries of the catalytic properties of RNA, challenging the long-held view that only proteins could act as biological enzymes. Born in Montreal, Quebec, to poor Eastern European immigrant parents, Altman grew up in a working-class family where his mother labored in a textile mill and his father in a grocery store; he developed an early interest in science inspired by the atomic bomb and the periodic table.

Altman earned a B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960, followed by a Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Colorado in 1967, after initial graduate studies in physics at Columbia University. His career included postdoctoral research at Harvard University from 1967 to 1969, and a fellowship at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, from 1969 to 1970, where he worked with Sydney Brenner and Francis Crick. In 1971, he joined Yale University as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology, rising to full professor in 1980; he later served as department chair from 1983 to 1985 and as dean of Yale College from 1985 to 1989, during which he expanded the undergraduate curriculum to emphasize science and language requirements.

Sidney Altman was born on May 7, 1939, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as the second son of Jewish immigrant parents from Eastern Europe. His mother, Ray (née Arlin), originated from Białystok in Poland, while his father, Victor Altman, hailed from Galicia, a region spanning parts of modern-day Poland and Ukraine. The family immigrated to Canada in the 1920s, fleeing the pervasive antisemitism and pogroms that plagued Jewish communities in Eastern Europe during and after World War I.

Victor's early work as a laborer on a collective farm in Ontario transitioned into owning a modest grocery store in Montreal after he met and married Ray, who had previously toiled in a textile mill. Ray contributed to the family business, managing the store alongside household duties. Growing up in this working-class environment amid the lingering effects of the Great Depression, the Altmans faced significant economic hardships, with neither parent having completed high school. Despite these challenges, the family's Jewish heritage and immigrant experience fostered a deep emphasis on education as the key to overcoming adversity and achieving stability in their adopted homeland.

Beyond his scientific pursuits, Altman nurtured diverse personal interests that reflected his scholarly disposition. He was an avid reader with a broad appreciation for literature, often drawing on works by authors such as Marcel Proust in his correspondence. His passions extended to art, music, and history, enriching his intellectual life outside the laboratory. Altman also remained deeply connected to his Jewish heritage, proudly contributing to the establishment of Yale's Judaic Studies program in the 1980s and serving as a longtime board member of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at the university. These cultural engagements underscored his commitment to fostering Jewish intellectual and communal activities.