12-year old wins Doodle for Google contest

A sixth-grade student from Washington state won the 15th annual Doodle for Google contest.

Rebecca Wu's Doodle, “My Sweetest Memories,” — which is on the Google homepage today — reflects her gratitude for her sisters and the memories they’ve created together.

For the 15th annual Doodle for Google contest, Google invited K-12 students to create artwork that answers the prompt “I am grateful for….” Google received  submissions from all over the US, including our 55 state and territory winners and five national finalists.

Rebecca’s Doodle, “My Sweetest Memories,” — which is on the Google homepage today — reflects her gratitude for her sisters and the memories they’ve created together.

When Rebecca was thinking about how to answer this year’s Doodle for Google contest prompt, “I am grateful for…”, her mind instantly went to her sisters. She decided to highlight the ways in which they support each other using the metaphor of a garden growing. She thinks gratitude is important because it allows us to look beyond the negative to focus on the positive.

Rebecca Wu (center) and her sisters.

Rebecca explains her Doodle inspiration:

“Sometimes I love them, and sometimes I dislike them very much, but I can't imagine my life without my sisters. I have learned to be a little bit more patient with them, and they have had an enormous impact on me. We help to inspire each other and to help each other grow like the vines and flowers in my picture. I am never lonely with them, and they can cheer me up. I am grateful for them and all that they have done for me. In this drawing, we are having a fun time drinking hot chocolate, which is one of my fondest memories. The rainbow in the background symbolizes one of the first things I helped one of my sisters draw. In one of my family pictures, my sisters (sitting next to me) and I (the one in the middle) are sitting in flowers with a background that I drew, so I thought it would be fun to reference that by drawing us sitting flowers here. The word "Google" is related with the stems of flowers and vines, also following the flower/garden theme. My drawing is composed of all our happiest memories to show just how grateful I am for them.”

This was not the first time Rebecca entered the Doodle contest. "I entered the Doodle for Google contest for the first time when I was eight or nine after my art teacher introduced it to me," said the budding artist. "It was fun for me to interpret the prompt and put 'Google' in my drawing. I’ve entered it almost every year since, so it’s sort of a yearly thing for me to do now.

As the U.S. 2023 Doodle for Google contest national winner, Rebecca wins a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology package for her school.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

AANHPI Heritage Month: Chinese American chronicler gets his own 'Google Doodle'

Today's Google Doodle honors Corky Lee.

Today is Cory Lee Day in New York City. The late Lee, who chronicled the history of Asian Pacific America through his work as a photographer, journalist and activist, received another honor as the subject of today's Google Doodle.

In 1988, May 5th was proclaimed to be "Corky Lee Day" in honor of his lifelong contributions to New York City’s communities.

"Throughout our childhood, our parents expounded upon the importance of doing the right thing. Simply because it was the right thing to do and carried with it an implicit call to action," said his brother John "Johann" Lee.

"Perhaps they were prescient in giving Corky his Chinese name (Lee Young Kuo). Loosely translated it means, 'to praise,' 'uplift the nation,' and so he did. Through his lens, he gave Americans of Asian descent their history, pride, and dignity and reminded all Americans of Asian contributions to the national American mosaic. Corky raised the consciousness not only of his camera's subjects but that of the nation as well."

Corky Lee was born in Queens, New York City to Chinese immigrant parents on September 5, 1947. When he was in school as a young boy, he learned about the transcontinental railroad in social studies class. During the lesson, he saw a photo that celebrated the completion of the railroad—but noticed a lack of representation for the thousands of Chinese laborers who helped build it. Lee later shared that this event inspired his life’s work.

He went on to teach himself photography and attended Queens College to study history. After graduating college with a degree in American studies, Corky Lee photographed events in Manhattan's Chinatown and the AAPI community more broadly. His parents worried that an artistic career would not be a lucrative path, but he was convinced that photography could be a catalyst for their common politics and activism.

“I didn’t want the AAPI community to be invisible,” he told Curtis Chin, filmmaker of the documentary "Dear Corky."

Lee began photographing community festivals, parades, protests and performances, as well as robust local activism in the area. In May of 1975, he took one of his most famous photos showing the protest of Chinese Americans, in which tens of thousands marched to protest police brutality after a Chinese man named Peter Yew was strip-searched and beaten without just cause.

CORKY LEE

One of Corky Lee's best known photographs was of a 1975 protest in New York City.

Across his life, Lee’s photos were included in countless publications like Time Magazine, The New York Times, New York Post, and more. He also won many awards for his works, and his life has been covered in movies like Not on the Menu: Corky Lee’s Life and Work (2013) and Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story (2022).

Later in life, Lee often visited Promontory Summit in Utah to recreate the photo that had been taken when the transcontinental railroad was completed. He invited several descendants of the Chinese laborers who were not pictured back in 1869 in an effort to show that Asian American history is American history.

While photographing an event during the pandemic in 2021, Lee caught COVID-19. He tragically died at the age of 73 on January 27, 2021, at a hospital in Queens. The community mourned this loss, lining the streets during his funeral procession and staging multiple exhibitions in memoriam of the late photographer.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

Google honors the Philippines' adobo

Today's Google Doodle is of the Philippines' national dish: adobo.

Why today, March 15, of all days? "The word ‘adobo’ was first added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in December 2006, and was included on the word list of the next OED quarterly update, released on this day in 2007," Google explains.

Mind you, we're not talking about the adobo of Spain, Portugal, Mexico or Puerto Rico. The adobo of the Philippines is nothing alike the adobo of the aforementioned countries except for the liberal use of vinegar.

Contrary to popular belief, adobo is not a relic of the 300-year era when Spain ruled over its Asian colony. I don't know who or why the Spanish word "adobo" was applied to this indigenous dish, but the name stuck over the centuries.

With scores of variations, it seems that every Filipino family has its own recipe for the iconic dish, but they all share the common ingredients of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, and black pepper.

Google writes: "Several areas within the Philippines give their adobo a regional twist. Locals in Visayas enjoy adobong puti (white adobo), considered by some to be the original indigenous style, which exclusively uses vinegar without any soy sauce. In places like Southern Luzon, where coconut milk is a food staple, creamier adobo recipes like adobong manok sa gata (chicken adobo with coconut milk) are extremely popular. Others substitute meat with seafood like squid, or locally available vegetables like kangkong (water spinach) or sitaw (string beans)."

PORK ADOBO

"For children of immigrants, our relationship with our parents' food is a complex one," says Doodle artist Anthony Irwin. "On one hand, my mother's cooking made me feel like I was exactly where I was supposed to be. It felt special and safe and warm. But on the other hand, most kids just want to fit in. Growing up in the U.S., I didn't want my food to be special. I didn't want to feel different. I just wanted to be like everyone else.

"Now as an adult, I get to find all of these opportunities to be proud in ways childhood didn't let me feel proud. I can claim Filipino food as a part of my culture and celebrate the connection it creates between my mother's identity and my own," he writes.

"I ordered some southern-style chicken adobo from a local restaurant to stir up some memories while working on the art for this Doodle, and the first thing that hit me was the smell. It was so bright and nostalgic, and instantly filled my apartment with that familiar feeling: this is exactly how things are supposed to be. 

"So I tried to capture that simple childhood joy of leaning in and savoring the kind of food that makes home feel like home. Kain nang mabuti!"

When Filipino American chef Leah Cohen gets that craving for comfort food, she makes her family's adobo which includes coconut milk and onions.

"While working in other kitchens over the years, this has always been my go-to staff meal," she continues. "It is easy to make, and while it braises away in the oven, I can get my prep done. Most importantly, the staff always loves it. Now I make it for my son, Carter G. It is one of his most loved dishes."

TV personality and owner/chef  of Flip Sigi restaurants, Jordan Andino's take on the dish involves shredded pork butt, oyster sauce and Sriracha for a little kick.

"(Adobo) is something I adore and have always loved eating and making. Simplistic and cheap, yet incredibly delicious, this dish gets better as the days go by and can be repurposed in so many different ways for all your make-ahead dinner plans," he tells Today.com.

For TODAY.com's senior health editor, Filipino American Maura Hohman, it's comfort food. "My own twist? A runny fried egg because the adobo’s tartness begs for it, in my opinion. 'You like adobo?' is the subject line of that email, an inside family joke from when two Filipino strangers asked my brother that very question upon finding out his mother’s ethnicity. Of course, I do, and everyone else should, too."

Even Mickey Mouse has an adobo recipe.

There's no mistaking the aroma when you walk into a Filipino household and adobo is being served. I love the aroma as it wafts through the house seeping into the rug and upholstery. While growing up there was a love-hate relationship with adobo; the smell may linger for hours announcing with no uncertainty that this is a Filipino home may make youngsters reluctant to have friends visit, it is an aroma I've learned to savor bringing back warm memories of many family meals of my childhood shared with friends and neighbors. Here's the recipe for my family.

One cool memory I will always treasure: adobo (and a plethora of other Filipino dishes) was served to then-Philippine Vice President Fernando Lopez who was visiting my little suburban California town to give a speech. There was the Philippine Vice President with his wife, members of the high-brow society, eating off of TV tables in our humble living room, proclaiming, "Ito ay masarap!"

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Art student's Google Doodle design wins $30,000 scholarship

 

Sophie Araque-Liu shows off her winning design for a Google Doodle.

Did you check out today's Google Doodle? It was designed by an Asian American art student.

The design by Sophie Araque-Liu of Florida earned her $30,000 from the online giant.

Every year, Google allows students across the United States to submit Google Doodle artwork suited to a particular theme. This year’s theme was “I care for myself by…” and encouraged students to reflect on the positive ways to renew their mental and emotional health.

The panel of judges made the final decision for which artwork and artist would be crowned the winner of Doodle for Google 2022. Today, Google has announced that Sophie Araque-Liu of Florida is the grand prize winner, with the company publicly displaying her artwork for the entirety of August 16.

Sophie’s work, entitled “Not Alone,” apparently resonated with the Doodle for Google judges, particularly in the way it encourages the viewer to accept help from those around them. “Not Alone” draws your focus to the center, with an impactful depiction of a hug between two family members. The central artwork replaces the second “o” of “Google,” which otherwise consists of stark red brushstrokes.

I care for myself by accepting others care for me. Often I struggle to shoulder a burden on my own, and forget that I have so many people, like my mom, who care about me and want to help me. Opening up and letting others support me not only relieves my stress – it lets me tackle things I could never do on my own.

In addition to the honor of having her artwork shown on the Google.com homepage — as well as the New Tab Page in Chrome and the top of the Google Search app — Sophie has received a $30,000 college scholarship and her school will receive a $50,000 technology package.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. 

Google Doodle celebrates Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa

In honor of Asian American Pacific Islander month in the U.S., May First's Doodle celebrates Ruth Asawa, the acclaimed Japanese American artist and educator who overcame great adversity throughout her journey, ultimately exhibiting her intricate wire sculptures and works on paper in museums around the world.

Born in 1926, Asawa’s family made a living as farmers until World War II, when they were sent to the US government internment camps for the Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. There, Asawa pursued her interest in art, getting lessons from fellow camp inmates. 

RUTH ASAWA

Following sixteen months of internment, Asawa received a scholarship to Milwaukee State Teachers College, where she studied to become an art teacher. Three years later, she was prevented from doing her student teaching because of her Japanese heritage. Undeterred, she transferred to the experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina. It was there that she blossomed as an artist and met the architect Albert Lanier, whom she would marry and start a family with, raising six children together.

Adapting methods she learned in Mexico, where people made wire baskets for domestic use, Asawa used similar techniques to create the looped wire sculptures she became known for. Asked to name her inspirations, she spoke of “plants, the spiral shell of a snail, seeing light through insect wings, watching spiders repair their webs in the early morning, and seeing the sun through the droplets of water suspended from the tips of pine needles while watering my garden.”

Ruth Asawa reflected her experience as a detainee in the San Jose Internment Memorial that she sculpted.

While some critics dismissed her art as “feminine handiwork” early on, but aappreciation of Asawa’s work has grown over time. Her legacy lives on in public commissions in California as well as museums and galleries around the globe. 

She designed the Japanese American Internment Memorial Sculpture in San Jose in 1994 as well as SF State University’s Garden of Remembrance, which includes boulders from ten internment camps.

Asawa also advocated for arts education for kids, including the creation of a public arts high school that was later renamed the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. Since 1982, the city of San Francisco has also declared February 12 to be Ruth Asawa Day.

"Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation. It makes a person broader," she said.

She died at her San Francisco home in 2013 at the age of 87.

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Google doodles Indian who had profound influence on the West

SAKE DEAN MOHOMED

MOST OF US in the United States probably never heard of Sake Dean Mohomed, but Google doodled him today (Jan. 15) because he introduced the idea of clean hair to Western society.

Mohomed was an entrepreneur and surgeon who helped break down cultural barriers between India and England.

Mahomed is credited with introducing Indian cuisine and Indian therapeutic massages known as shampoo baths to Europe in the early 19th century. But it's for his writings that Google honored him with a Doodle on Tuesday. It was on this date in 1794 that Mahomed became the first Indian author to write and publish a book in English.

Born in Patna, India, in 1759, Mahomed was taken under the wing of a British Army officer at the age of 10 after his father died. He served as a trainee surgeon in the army of the British East India Company and remained with the unit until 1782, when he resigned from the army and accompanied his benefactor to Britain.

In 1794, Mahomed published The Travels of Dean Mahomed, an autobiographical narrative about his adventures in India. The book recounts his time in the army and describes many important Indian cities and military campaigns. The book was noteworthy because the it was the first book to present the impressions of Great Britain and Europe from the perspective of a South Asian.

After moving to London in 1810, Mahomed opened the Hindostanee Coffee House, the first Indian restaurant in Britain. The luxurious restaurant gave Georgian Brits their first taste of curry and the hookah, but financial pressures forced the establishment to close two years later.

In 1814, Mahomed moved to the beachside town of Brighton and opened the first commercial "shampooing" bath in England, providing a combination of a steam bath and an Indian therapeutic massage. His business flourished, promising to cure diseases and provide relief from various physical pains.

He was so successful that soon he became known as "Dr. Brighton," with hospitals referring patients to his care. He was also appointed shampooing surgeon to British kings George IV and William IV.

Mahomed died in Brighton in 1851, between the ages of about 91 and 92.

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Fe del Mundo: Google's Doodle and Harvard's quandry

TUESDAY (Nov. 27) Google showed a Doodle for Fe del Mundo on the occasion of what would have been the Filipino pediatrician’s 107th birthday. Google is showing the doodle  in a few countries -- but not in the United States. 

Dr. del Mundo was born on Nov. 27th, 1911 and died on August 6th, 2011. To just call her a Filipino pediatrician would be accurate but it wouldn't do justice to her contributions and accomplishments. 

Her pioneering work in pediatrics in the Philippines in an active medical practice that spanned 8 decades won her international recognition, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1977. 

“I’m glad that I have been very much involved in the care of children, and that I have been relevant to them,” said del Mundo. “They are the most outstanding feature in my life.”

Google's accompanying blog about del Mundo:

DR. FE DEL MUNDO

A gifted student who became the first woman admitted to Harvard Medical School, del Mundo returned home after completing her studies in the U.S. During World War II, she set up a hospice where she treated more than 400 children and later became director of a government hospital. Frustrated with the bureaucracy, she eventually sold her house and belongings to finance the first pediatric hospital in the Philippines. Del Mundo lived on the second floor of the Children's Medical Center in Quezon City, making early morning rounds until she was 99 years old, even in a wheelchair.

When she wasn’t treating patients she was teaching students, publishing important research in medical journals, and authoring a definitive ‘Textbook of Pediatrics.’ She established the Institute of Maternal and Child Health to train doctors and nurses, and became the first woman to be conferred the title National Scientist of the Philippines and received many awards for her outstanding service to humankind.

Before WWII, she returned to the Philippines to provide her services. She later opened her own hospital and research facility.

n 1980, she was conferred the rank and title of National Scientist of the Philippines while in 2010, she was conferred the Order of Lakandula. Del Mundo was still active in her practice of pediatrics into her 90s. She died on August 6, 2011 after suffering cardiac arrest. 

In a tribute to the late doctors, Philip S. Chua, a Filipino American physician who was former student of de Mundo’s, said: “She was the first Filipino Diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics, the first lady president of the Philippine Pediatric Society, the founder and first president of the Philippine Woman’s Medical Association, the first woman to be elected president of the Philippine Medical Association in it’s 65-year history, and the first Asian to be voted president of the Medical Woman’s International Association.”

Her Doodle pushed Harvard in a quandry. While her bio states that she was the first woman to enroll in Harvard's medial school, Harvard's historians couldn't find any records confirming that part of her story.

After graduating from medical school at the University of the Philippines in 1933, Philippine President Ramon Quezon offered her a full scholarship to further her medical studies at  any institution in the world. She chose Harvard.

Her biography, as stated when she received the Ramon Magsaysay Award (Asia’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize) in 1977 for her work in pediatrics, includes the anecdote of del Mundo’s surprise upon arriving in Cambridge and being sent to a men’s dormitory. There was no other option, the bio read, since there were no lodgings designated for women at the time. Upon discovering the mix-up — it appears that the admissions board had assumed she was a man — Harvard officials looked into her application. Finding an impressively strong record, the pediatrics department head accepted her anyway.

Except ... Harvard couldn't find any documentation that del Mundo had ever enrolled as an undergrad. Most likely, explained Harvard officials, she was accepted into Harvard Medical School as a graduate student.

The fragmented record of del Mundo’s years at Harvard offers clues about the school’s attitudes towards women and minorities at the time. HMS, tweets Joan Ilacqua, archivist for diversity and inclusion at Harvard’s Center for the History of Medicine, did not “celebrate or acknowledge the academic work of women prior to officially accepting women students in 1945.” Being a woman from a far-off nation — perhaps admitted accidentally for graduate studies — it’s unlikely that del Mundo’s achievements were recorded in a way that they deserved.

Harvard's history of its first female graduates, for example, didn’t include del Mundo before Tuesday, but at around 4:25 p.m. Eastern, an entry was added: “1936: Dr. Fe del Mundo comes to Boston to further her studies in Pediatrics, likely at Boston Children’s Hospital.”

“I think Dr. Fe del Mundo is an incredibly inspirational person,” Harvard's Ilacqua told Inverse, “and I think that her story is so important and certainly worthy of being seen by so [many] people.”

“Dr. Fe Del Mundo was a pioneer for Filipino Americans, women of color, and everyone in general. She teaches us to recognize that despite the systems that try to push us down, we can dream big and accomplish our goals,” Kevin Nadal, a psychology professor at the City University of New York and trustee of the Filipino American National History Society, told NBC News.

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Check out Google today to learn about legendary artist Tyrus Wong

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Tyrus Wong's most famous work was for Disney's animated 'Bambi.'

ASAM NEWS

CHINESE AMERICAN ARTIST Tyrus Wong was featured as the Google Doodle today (Oct. 25) to celebrate his 108th birthday, reports CNN.

While Wong was a multitalented artist, he is best known for working on the 1942 Disney movie Bambi as an animator and illustrator, the movie’s scenic backgrounds he painted inspired by Song dynasty-era classical Chinese art.

Google Doodle creator Sophie Diao said Wong’s work “has inspired me since I first learned about him as a first-year animation student,” explaining that his art “motivates me to think about ways to channel my own Chinese heritage in the stories and artwork I make.”

Born in China in 1910, Wong immigrated to the U.S. at nine years old with his father. The Chinese Exclusion Act restricted the number of Chinese immigrants at the time; while his father got into the U.S., Wong was held for nearly a month before he was able to enter the States, reports Newsweek.

Wong said his father encouraged his love for art and made him practice calligraphy daily with water and newspaper since they couldn’t afford formal education, according to an interview Wong had with the Otis Art Institute. The institute offered him a scholarship at 16 years old.

DISNEY

Tyrus Wong's work on behalf of Disney are works of art unto themselves.

According to Newsweek, Wong was initially credited as only a background artist for his work on Bambi. Despite his talents as a painter, muralist, ceramicist, lithographer, kite maker, set designer, and storyboard artist, he was not recognized for most of his achievements until the latter part of his life.

Wong also recalled wearing a pin stating he was Chinese, not Japanese, during World War II, a time of high anti-Asian sentiment. He became a U.S. citizen in 1946.

Wong was fired by Disney after an animators’ strike in 1941. He then worked at Warner Brothers for most of the rest of his career. Major credits include The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and The Wild Bunch (1969). He also designed popular greeting cards for Hallmark.

Wong’s work has been featured in the Chinese American Museum and the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles.

In 2001, Disney honored him by naming him a Disney Legend for outstanding contributions to animated media. He died in 2016.

Wong’s work has been featured in the Chinese American Museum and the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles.

In 2001, Disney honored him by naming him a Disney Legend for outstanding contributions to animated media. He died in 2016.

Wong’s daughters Kim, Tai-Ling, and Kay collaborated with Google for this project. “Our Dad was always creating art,” they stated. “Growing up, we benefited from his rich imagination and creativity—from his design of our family’s home and garden to the handmade holiday gifts he created for us even when he was in his 90s.

“Through his work ethic, appreciation of nature’s beauty, and joy in creating art, Dad was a role model for us. We miss him very much and to this day, whenever we see something humorous, clever, or beautiful, we think of him and wish we could share it with him.”
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Google doodles Indian/American Nobel Prize winner

HAILED for constructing the first synthetic gene, Nobel Prize winner Har Gobind Khorana would have been 96 today, Tuesday, Jan. 9 - that's the date of birth 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 (above) - or illustration - of him and his DNA work.

From Nobel Lectures, this is his story:
Har Gobind Khorana was born of Hindu parents in Raipur, a little village in Punjab, which is now part of eastern Pakistan. The correct date of his birth is not known; that shown in documents is January 9th, 1922. He is the youngest of a family of one daughter and four sons. His father was a «patwari», a village agricultural taxation clerk in the British Indian system of government. Although poor, his father was dedicated to educating his children and they were practically the only literate family in the village inhabited by about 100 people.

Har Gobind Khorana

Har Gobind Khorana attended D.A.V. High School in Multan (now West Punjab); Ratan Lal, one of his teachers, influenced him greatly during that period. Later, he studied at the Punjab University in Lahore where he obtained an M. Sc. degree. Mahan Singh, a great teacher and accurate experimentalist, was his supervisor.

Khorana lived in India until 1945, when the award of a Government of India Fellowship made it possible for him to go to England and he studied for a Ph. D. degree at the University of Liverpool. Roger J. S. Beer supervised his research, and, in addition, looked after him diligently. It was the introduction of Khorana to Western civilization and culture.

Khorana spent a postdoctoral year (1948-1949) at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zurich with Professor Vladimir Prelog. The association with Professor Prelog molded immeasurably his thought and philosophy towards science, work, and effort.

After a brief period in India in the fall of 1949, Khorana returned to England where he obtained a fellowship to work with Dr. (now Professor) G. W. Kenner and Professor (now Lord) A. R. Todd. He stayed in Cambridge from 1950 till 1952. Again, this stay proved to be of decisive value to Khorana. Interest in both proteins and nucleic acids took root at that time.

A job offer in 1952 from Dr. Gordon M. Shrum of British Columbia (now Chancellor of Simon Fraser University, British Columbia) took him to Vancouver. The British Columbia Research Council offered at that time very little by way of facilities, but there was «all the freedom in the world», to use Dr. Shrum's words, to do what the researcher liked to do. During the following years, with Dr. Shrum's inspiration and encouragement and frequent help and scientific counsel from Dr. Jack Campbell (now Head of the Department of Microbiology at the University of British Columbia), a group began to work in the field of biologically interesting phosphate esters and nucleic acids. 

In 1960 Khorana moved to the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin. Two years later, Khorana, Robert W Holley and Marshall W Nirenberg were awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine "for their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis".

He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1966. As of the fall of 1970 Khorana has been Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Biology and Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Har Gobind Khorana was married in 1952 to Esther Elizabeth Sibler, who is of Swiss origin. Esther brought a consistent sense of purpose into his life at a time when, after six years' absence from the country of his birth, Khorana felt out of place everywhere and at home nowhere. They have three children: Julia Elizabeth (born May 4th, 1953), Emily Anne (born October 18th, 1954), and Dave Roy (born July 26th, 1958).

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