Alexander R. Todd; Won Nobel Prize for Work With Nucleic Acids

Alexander R. Todd, 89, the Nobel Prize-winning British chemist whose work helped pave the way for the discovery of the structure of DNA, the basis of heredity. Todd was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1957 for his research into the components of nucleic acids, from which genes, the carriers of genetic information, and the chromosomes on which they are located in the cells of all living things are made. Todd established the general chemistry of the nucleic acids. His work cleared the way for Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins to work out the detail of the structure, including the famous double helix of deoxyribonucleic acid--DNA. Crick, Watson and Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize in 1962 for their work. Todd was knighted in 1954, created a baron in 1962 and made a member of the Order of Merit in 1977 in recognition of his work. He served as professor of organic chemistry at Cambridge University from 1944 to 1971, and was master of Christ’s College there from 1963 to 1978. On Jan. 10 in Cambridge, England.