Thomas Cech, Date of Birth, Place of Birth

Thomas Cech

Nobel laureate in chemistry

Date of Birth: 08-Dec-1947

Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Profession: chemist, university teacher, biochemist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Thomas Robert Cech (born December 8, 1947) is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman, for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA.
Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting that life might have started as RNA.
He also studied telomeres, and his lab discovered an enzyme, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), which is part of the process of restoring telomeres after they are shortened during cell division.
As president of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at the University of Colorado.