Severo Ochoa

In 1931, Ochoa married Carmen Garcia Cobian and remained together until her death in 1986. They did not have any children.

He died of pneumonia on November 1, 1993 at Madrid, Spain.

The asteroid 117435 Severochoa, discovered on January 14, 2005 by Observatorio de La Cañada in Spain, has been named after him.

Severo Ochoa de Albornoz was born on 24 September 1905, in Luarca, Spain. His father, Severo Manuel Ochoa, was a lawyer and businessman. His mother’s name was Carmen de Albornoz Ocha. He was the youngest of his parents’ seven children.

Ochoa Senior died when Severo Ochoa was just seven years old. Subsequently, Carmen shifted her family to Málaga, located on the Mediterranean coast. Ochoa started his education at an elementary school here.

Later, he was admitted to Instituto de Bachillerato de Málaga for secondary education. While at school, his chemistry teacher ignited his interest in natural science. He was also inspired by the Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, and decided to study biology.

After completing his secondary education, Ochoa entered Málaga College and received his baccalauréat in 1921. He then spent a year preparing for medical school. Finally in 1923, he got admission to the Medical School of the University of Madrid.

By the end of second year, Ochoa was invited to work as an instructor in the laboratory of Juan Negrín, a post he held throughout his student life. Here, he worked with José Valdecasas to separate creatinine from urine. They also developed a method to measure small levels of muscle creatinine.

In 1929, soon after receiving his medical degree, Ochoa received invitation to join Otto Meyerhof’s laboratory at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem. While working there, Ochoa developed an interest in the enzymatic mechanisms of metabolic reactions and investigated the sources of energy in muscular contraction in frog.

In 1930, he returned to Madrid to complete his doctoral thesis on the role of adrenal glands on the chemistry of muscular contraction and received his PhD in the same year. Then in 1931, he was appointed a lecturer in physiology at the University of Madrid.

In 1932, Ochoa took a break and joined London National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) for his post doctoral work. Here he worked with Sir Henry Hallett Dale on enzyme glyoxalase, which acts as catalyst in the conversion of methylglyoxal into lactic acid

In 1933, after two years of post doctoral work in London, Ochoa returned to Madrid to continue teaching career at the University of Madrid. At the same time he began to work on the role of glyoxalase on the heart muscles.

In 1935, a new Institute for Medical Research was created by the University of Madrid. While the Medical School provided it the space, wealthy patrons pledged substantial donation to cover other expenses. In the same year, Ochoa was appointed as the Director of its Physiology Section.

Ochoa mainly worked on enzymatic processes in biological oxidation and synthesis and the transfer of energy. However, he is best remembered for his work on oxidative phosphorylation, which led to RNA synthesis and the genetic code. His research contributed significantly to the understanding of the mechanism of life.