Severo Ochoa

Hello, my name is Severo Ochoa. I was born a long, long time ago, in a sunny place called Spain. When I was a little boy, my head was always full of questions. I was very curious! I loved to wonder about how everything in the world works. I would look up at the biggest stars in the sky and then look down at the tiniest bugs on the ground and ask, “How do you work?”.

When I grew up, I became a scientist so I could find answers to my questions. I used special tools to look at the teeny-tiny building blocks that make up our bodies. They are so small you can't see them with just your eyes. In the year 1959, I made a super tiny discovery. I found a very important messenger inside of us. I called this messenger RNA. You can think of it like a secret note that tells our bodies how to grow and be strong and healthy. It was a very important secret note to find.

Finding this special secret note was so exciting. I shared my discovery with the whole world so other scientists could learn from it. Because of my discovery, I won a very special prize. It helped so many people understand our bodies better. I lived to be 88 years old, and my life was full of wonderful questions. I hope you remember that being curious and asking questions can lead to big discoveries that help everyone.