What Made Google Doodle Har Gobind Khorana

Hailed for constructing the first synthetic gene, Nobel Prize winner Har Gobind Khorana would have been 96 on Tuesday, January 9 - that's the date of birth shown in his documents, although the exact date remains uncertain.

In the Indian-American scientist's honour, Google is changing its logo in 13 countries to a doodle - or illustration - of him and his DNA work.

Google has launched a doodle on the occasion of Indian-American scientist Har Gobind Khorana's 96th birth anniversary. The Nobel Prize winner is known for his work on the DNA and for constructing the first synthetic gene.

Khorana was born in a village in Raipur and was taught by his father how to read and write. After completing his bachelor's and masters degree from Lahore, Khorana went to the UK for a Ph.D.

He became an expert on chemical synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins while he was working under Professor Vladimir Prelog in Zurich for one year.

Khorana moved to Canada in 1952 where he worked at the University of British Columbia and initiated his Nobel Prize winning research. In 1960, Khorana moved to the US and continued his research at the University of Wisconsin. He was granted American citizenship in 1966.