Howard Temin (American virologist)

Howard Temin was an American virologist renowned for discovering reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that allows certain viruses, like retroviruses, to convert their RNA into DNA inside a host cell. This process was groundbreaking because it challenged the previous belief that genetic information only flowed from DNA to RNA to protein. His work helped fundamentally change our understanding of how viruses evolve and replicate. Temin shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975 for this discovery, which also provided insights into cancer biology and gene transfer, with wide-ranging implications in medicine and genetics.