Sidney Altman was a Canadian-American molecular biologist, who was the Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Chemistry at Yale University. In 1989, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Thomas R. Cech for their work on the catalytic properties of RNA. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1989, announced October 12, 1989. Sidney Altman and Thomas R. Cech, “for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA”. Sidney Altman: born 1939, Montreal, Canada. Thomas R. Cech: born 1947, Chicago, IL, USA. Wiki link Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).