Har Gobind Khorana. Portrait of Har Gobind Khorana (born 1922), Indian-American chemist. Graduating in organic chemistry, Khorana's early work was on the chemistry of biological catalysts (enzymes). In the 1960s he began studying the nucleic acids which form a human's genetic code. He synthesised the 64 nucleic acids (bases) and determined their sequence in the 20 amino acids in the human body. He found that most have a pattern of three base codes, but that some had more. In 1970 Khorana was the first to synthesise an artificial gene. In 1976 he made a second one which was capable of functioning within a living cell. Khorana was awarded the 1968 Nobel prize for physiology.