Severo Ochoa was born on September 24th, 1905 in Luarca Spain. He was the youngest of seven children. His father had died at a young age, which led the family to move to Malaga Spain to start a new life. 

Luarca Spain

Severo Ochoa was first inspired by his high school biology teacher, Garcia Rodeja. As Severo progressed through his education he often found himself infatuated with a Spanish neurologist, Ramon y Cajal. 

Ramon y Cajal

Severo Ochoa was a very well educated man. He was one of the top students at the University of Madrid. Severo graduated from the University of Madird in 1929 with a medical degree. After he graduated, he then went on to continue his education by accepting a fellowship program in Berlin Germany at Otto Meyerhof's laboratory

University of Madrid

Upon working with Dr. H W Dudley in England, Severo had discovered his love for biochemistry, enzymes and biproducts. With finding his love, he also began to study glycolysis and was the first person to discover ATP. When he started to research more into biochemistry he had made many new discoveries which include, polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) which is needed for RNA and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA).