Marshall Warren Nirenberg was born on April 10, 1927 in New York City to Harry and Minerva Nirenberg. At the age of twelve he and his family moved to Orlando, Florida, where he discovered a love of birdwatching that introduced him to the world of zoology. In 1948, Nirenberg graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida and went on to earn a Master's degree in Zoology. He continued his education at the University of Michigan where he earned his Ph.D. In 1960 he married his wife Perola Zaltzman but had no children. His wife was a chemist at the University of Brazil and was a biochemist at the National Institute of Health. From 1957 to 1959 he did a predoctoral internship with DeWitt Stetten Jr. and William Jakoby at the National Institute of Health. In 1960 he obtained a Public Health Service scholarship and was offered a job as a research biochemist on metabolic enzymes at the National Institute of Health. There he began his study of deciphering the RNA code. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Marshall Warren Nirenberg and his partners published a paper containing the first piece of genetic code in 1961. In 1962 he was promoted to head of biochemical genetics at the National Institutes of Health. In 1965 he was awarded a National Medal of Science for his paper on the first piece of genetic code. Shortly thereafter he found the rest of the genetic code. In 1968 he was awarded the shared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with his partners Har Gobind Khorana and Robert Holley. He then began to focus on the development of the nervous system of Drosophilamelanogaster. In 1980 new genes became essential to his studies, called homeobox genes, which truly advanced the world of neurobiology. In 2001 his wife died after 40 years of marriage. He then remarried Myrna M. Weissman in 2005 and had four stepchildren. She was a professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. On January 15, 2010, at the age of 82, Marshall Warren Nirenberg died of cancer.