Severo Ochoa studied Medicine at the University of Madrid. After graduating in 1928, Ochoa earned his doctorate in 1933. As a student at the university, he joined the physiology research group formed by Juan Negrín, and the laboratory at the Student Residence, where he focused his research on the metabolism of muscular contraction. 

Thanks to the scholarships awarded by the Commission of Extension Studies, he could continue his studies abroad doing research in Britain and Germany. However, he was unable to consolidate his position as a university professor or in the Physiology Laboratory. The outbreak of the Spanish civil war in 1936 led him to once again seek opportunities elsewhere. With the support of Negrín, Ochoa spent time in Germany and in England before moving to the United States. In the United States, Ochoa worked on the polynucleotide synthesis finding the key for the elucidation of genetic code, a discovery that led him to winning the Nobel Prize in 1959. 

As a result of the improved relations between Ochoa and the Spanish scientific community during the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Autonomous University of Madrid and The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) established the Centre for Molecular Biology. 

 

Severo Ochoa's writing in the UCM Library

Writing about Severo Ochoa in the UCM Library

Go to Notable Alumni