This Oct. 16, 1968 file photo shows Dr. Marshall Nirenberg in Washington. Nirenberg, whose work untangling fundamental genetic processes earned him a Nobel Prize has died, Jan. 15, 2010. He was 82. (AP Photo/Bob Schutz, file)
(AP) -- Marshall Nirenberg, a scientist whose work untangling fundamental genetic processes earned him a Nobel Prize, has died. He was 82.
Nirenberg's sister Joan Geiger says he died of cancer Jan. 15 in New York City.
In 1961, Nirenberg and a colleague conducted an experiment that showed how the genetic information contained in DNA is translated into the protein molecules in cells.
His work earned him the Nobel Prize in Â鶹ÒùÔºiology or Medicine in 1968.
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