Sydney Brenner

Brenner was born in the town of Germiston in the then Transvaal (today in Gauteng), South Africa, on 13 January 1927. His parents, Leah{{cite web|url=https://www.cshlpress.com/pdf/sample/BrennerBio.pdf|title=Errol C. Friedberg. Sydney Brenner: A Biography|website=cshlpress.com|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406060300/https://www.cshlpress.com/pdf/sample/BrennerBio.pdf|url-status=live}} (née Blecher) and Morris Brenner, were Jewish immigrants. His father, a cobbler, came to South Africa from Lithuania in 1910, and his mother from Riga, Latvia, in 1922. He had one sister, Phyllis.{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2002/brenner/biographical/|publisher=nobelprize.org|access-date=6 April 2019|title=Sydney Brenner, Biographical|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023073829/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2002/brenner/biographical/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sydney_Brenner.aspx|title=Brenner, Sydney (1927– ) World of Microbiology and Immunology|publisher=encyclopedia.com|access-date=27 July 2016|archive-date=20 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820164238/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sydney_Brenner.aspx|url-status=live}}

He was educated at Germiston High School{{Who's Who|title=Brenner, Sydney|id=U8635|author=Anon|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U8635|year=2015|edition=online Oxford University Press}} and the University of the Witwatersrand. Having joined the university at the age of 15, it was noted during his second year that he would be too young to qualify for the practice of medicine at the conclusion of his six-year medical course, and he was therefore allowed to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Anatomy and Physiology. During this time he was taught physical chemistry by Joel Mandelstam, microscopy by Alfred Oettle and neurology by Harold Daitz. He also received an introduction to anthropology and paleontology from Raymond Dart and Robert Broom. The histologist Joseph Gillman and director of research in the Anatomy Department persuaded Brenner to continue towards an honours degree and beyond towards an MSc. Brenner accepted though this would mean he would not graduate from medical school and his bursary would be discontinued. He supported himself during this time by working as a laboratory technician. It was during this time, in 1945, that Brenner would publish his first scientific works. His masters thesis was in the field of cytogenetics and publications during this time in the field Brenner would later call Cell Physiology.

In 1946 Wilfred Le Gros Clark invited Brenner to his Department of Anatomy in Oxford, during a visit to South Africa. Brenner was persuaded to finish his medical education instead. Brenner returned to medical school where he failed Medicine, nearly failed Surgery and achieved a First Class in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Six months later Brenner had finished repeating Medicine and Surgery and in 1951 received the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBCh).

Brenner received an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 which enabled him to complete a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil){{cite thesis|degree=DPhil|first=Sydney|last=Brenner|title=The physical chemistry of cell processes: a study of bacteriophage resistance in Escherichia coli, strain B|publisher=University of Oxford|date=1954|url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:oxfaleph020307634|oclc=775695643|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.672365}}|access-date=25 August 2015|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023073849/http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=SOLO&docid=oxfaleph020307634&context=L&search_scope=default_scope|url-status=live}} degree at the University of Oxford as a postgraduate student of Exeter College, Oxford, supervised by Cyril Hinshelwood.{{Cite web|url=https://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-sydney-brenner/|title=Dr Sydney Brenner|website=Exeter College|language=en|access-date=6 April 2019|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406012421/https://www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-sydney-brenner/|url-status=dead}}

Following his DPhil, Brenner did postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley.{{cite web|url=https://www.salk.edu/faculty/brenner.html|title=Sydney Brenner: Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center|publisher=Salk Institute|access-date=25 August 2015|archive-date=1 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001010916/http://www.salk.edu/faculty/brenner.html|url-status=live}} He spent the next 20 years at the Laboratory of Molecular BiologyJohn Finch; 'A Nobel Fellow on Every Floor', Medical Research Council 2008; {{ISBN|978-1-84046-940-0}}
This book is all about the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. in Cambridge. There, during the 1960s, he contributed to molecular biology, then an emerging field. In 1976 he joined the Salk Institute in California.

Together with Jack Dunitz, Dorothy Hodgkin, Leslie Orgel, and Beryl M. Oughton, he was one of the first people in April 1953 to see the model of the structure of DNA, constructed by Francis Crick and James Watson; at the time he and the other scientists were working at the University of Oxford's Chemistry Department. All were impressed by the new DNA model, especially Brenner, who subsequently worked with Crick in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and the newly opened Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). According to Beryl Oughton, later Rimmer, they all travelled together in two cars once Dorothy Hodgkin announced to them that they were off to Cambridge to see the model of the structure of DNA.Olby, Robert, Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2009, Chapter 10, pg. 181; {{ISBN|978-0-87969-798-3}}

Brenner made several seminal contributions to the emerging field of molecular biology in the 1960s (see Phage group). The first was to prove that all overlapping genetic coding sequences were impossible. This insight separated the coding function from structural constraints as proposed in a clever code by George Gamow. This led Francis Crick to propose the concept of a hypothetical molecule (later identified as transfer RNA or tRNA) that transfer the genetic information from RNA to proteins. Brenner gave the name "adaptor hypothesis" in 1955.{{Cite web |last=Crick |first=Francis |date=1955 |title=On Degenerate Templates and the Adaptor Hypothesis: A Note for the RNA Tie Club |url=https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101584582X73-doc |access-date=2022-07-21 |website=National Library of Medicine |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816132804/https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101584582X73-doc |url-status=live }} The physical separation between the anticodon and the amino acid on a tRNA is the basis for the unidirectional flow of information in coded biological systems. This is commonly known as the central dogma of molecular biology, i.e. information flows from nucleic acid to protein and never from protein to nucleic acid. Following this adaptor insight, Brenner conceived of the concept of messenger RNA during an April 1960 conversation with Crick and François Jacob, and together with Jacob and Matthew Meselson went on to prove its existence later that summer.{{cite journal |last1=Cobb |first1=Matthew |author-link1= Matthew Cobb |title=Who discovered messenger RNA? |journal=Current Biology |date=29 June 2015 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.032 |volume=25 |issue=13 |pages=R526–R532|pmid=26126273 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2015CBio...25.R526C }} Then, with Crick, Leslie Barnett, and Richard J. Watts-Tobin, Brenner genetically demonstrated the triplet nature of the code of protein translation through the Crick, Brenner, Barnett, Watts-Tobin et al. experiment of 1961,{{cite journal|doi=10.1038/1921227a0 |last1=Crick |first1=Francis |author-link1=Francis Crick |last2=Barnett |first2=Leslie |author-link2=Leslie Barnett |last3=Brenner |first3=Sydney |last4=Watts-Tobin |first4=Richard J |title=General nature of the genetic code for proteins|journal=Nature|volume=192|issue=4809|pages=1227–32|year=1961|pmid=13882203|bibcode=1961Natur.192.1227C|s2cid=4276146}} which discovered frameshift mutations. Brenner collaborating with Sarabhai, Stretton and Bolle in 1964, using amber mutants defective in the bacteriophage T4D major head protein, showed that the nucleotide sequence of the gene is co-linear with the amino acid sequence of the encoded polypeptide chain.Sarabhai AS, Stretton AO, Brenner S, Bolle A. Co-linearity of the gene with the polypeptide chain. Nature. 1964 Jan 4;201:13-7. doi: 10.1038/201013a0. PMID 14085558

Together with the decoding work of Marshall Warren Nirenberg and others, the discovery of the triplet nature of the genetic code was critical to deciphering the code.{{cite web |url=https://nautil.us/issue/72/quandary/the-thrill-of-defeat-rp |title=The Thrill of Defeat: What Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner taught me about being scooped |last=Goldstein |first=Bob |date=May 30, 2019 |publisher=Nautilus |access-date=Jan 21, 2021 |archive-date=10 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210101407/https://nautil.us/issue/72/quandary/the-thrill-of-defeat-rp |url-status=dead }} Barnett helped set up Sydney Brenner's laboratory in Singapore, many years later.{{cite web|url=http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2014/02/uncovering-a-scientific-life-in-the-archives/|title=Uncovering a scientific life in the archives|date=19 February 2014|first=L.|last=Kaplish|access-date=5 April 2019|website=Wellcome Library blog|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023073941/http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2014/02/uncovering-a-scientific-life-in-the-archives/|url-status=live}}{{cite report|title=A Study into the Prospects for Marine Biotechnology Development in the United Kingdom|author=Lloyd-Evans, L. P. M.|date=January 2005|volume=2 – Background & Appendices|publisher=Foresight Marine Panel Marine Biotechnology Group|url=https://www.biobridge.co.uk/ClientArea/files/Publications/MARINE%20BIOTECHNOLOGY%20DEVELOPMENT%20in%20UK%20M%20Lloyd-Evans%20Jan%202005%20Vol%202.pdf|access-date=5 April 2019|page=237|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023073931/https://www.biobridge.co.uk/ClientArea/files/Publications/MARINE%20BIOTECHNOLOGY%20DEVELOPMENT%20in%20UK%20M%20Lloyd-Evans%20Jan%202005%20Vol%202.pdf|url-status=live}}

File:EMLederberg GStent SBrenner JLederberg 1965 wiki.jpg, Gunther Stent, Sydney Brenner and Joshua Lederberg pictured in 1965]]

Brenner, with George Pieczenik,{{cite web|url=http://rci.rutgers.edu/~piecze/Brenner.pdf|title=Letter by Brenner (primary source)|website=rutgers.edu|access-date=8 April 2019|archive-date=7 November 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041107101749/http://rci.rutgers.edu/~piecze/Brenner.pdf|url-status=dead}} created the first computer matrix analysis of nucleic acids using TRAC, which Brenner continued to use. Crick, Brenner, Klug and Pieczenik returned to their early work on deciphering the genetic code with a pioneering paper on the origin of protein synthesis, where constraints on mRNA and tRNA co-evolved allowing for a five-base interaction with a flip of the anticodon loop, and thereby creating a triplet code translating system without requiring a ribosome. This model requires a partially overlapping code.{{cite journal|last1=Crick|first1=FH|last2=Brenner|first2=S|last3=Klug|first3=A|last4=Pieczenik|first4=G|title=A speculation on the origin of protein synthesis.|journal=Origins of Life|date=December 1976|volume=7|issue=4|pages=389–97|pmid=1023138|bibcode=1976OrLi....7..389C|doi=10.1007/BF00927934|s2cid=42319222}} The published scientific paper is extremely rare in that its collaborators include three authors who independently became Nobel laureates.Crick won a Nobel prize in 1962, Brenner in 2002, and Klug in 1982. However, this is not the only case. See {{cite journal|last1=Barton|first1=D. H. R.|last2=Jeger|first2=O.|last3=Prelog|first3=V.|last4=Woodward|first4=R. B.|title=The constitutions of cevine and some related alkaloids|journal=Experientia|date=March 1954|volume=10|issue=3|pages=81–90|doi=10.1007/BF02158513|pmid=13161888|s2cid=27430632}} Barton (1969), Prelog (1975) and Woodward (1965) all became Nobel winners.

Brenner then focused on establishing a free-living roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism for the investigation of animal development including neural development. He chose this 1-millimeter-long soil roundworm mainly because it is simple, is easy to grow in bulk populations, and turned out to be quite convenient for genetic analysis. One of the key methods for identifying important function genes was the screen for roundworms that had some functional defect, such as being uncoordinated, leading to the identification of new sets of proteins, such as the UNC proteins. For this work, he shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and John Sulston. The title of his Nobel lecture in December 2002, "Nature's Gift to Science", is a homage to this nematode; in it, he considered that having chosen the right organism turned out to be as important as having addressed the right problems to work on.{{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2002 Nature's Gift to Science In fact, the C. elegans community has grown rapidly in recent decades with researchers working on a wide spectrum of problems.{{Cite journal|last=Brenner|first=Sydney|date=2009-06-01|title=In the Beginning Was the Worm …|journal=Genetics|language=en|volume=182|issue=2|pages=413–415|doi=10.1534/genetics.109.104976|issn=0016-6731|pmc=2691750|pmid=19506024}}

Brenner founded the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, California in 1996. {{As of|2015}} he was associated with the Salk Institute, the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, the Singapore Biomedical Research Council, the Janelia Farm Research Campus, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In August 2005, Brenner was appointed president of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.{{cite web |url=http://www.oist.jp/dr-sydney-brenner |title=Dr. Sydney Brenner | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University OIST |website=Oist.jp |date= 12 January 2010|access-date=2016-12-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218104648/http://www.oist.jp/dr-sydney-brenner |archive-date=18 December 2015}} He was also on the Board of Scientific Governors at The Scripps Research Institute,[http://www.scripps.edu/about/leadership/governors.html Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709154522/http://www.scripps.edu/about/leadership/governors.html |date=9 July 2018 }}, Scripps.edu; accessed 28 July 2016. as well as being Professor of Genetics there.{{cite web|url=http://www.scripps.edu/research/faculty/brenner|publisher=scripps.edu|title=Sydney Brenner PhD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202220930/http://www.scripps.edu/research/faculty/brenner|archive-date=2 February 2012 }} A scientific biography of Brenner was written by Errol Friedberg in the US, for publication by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in 2010.

Known for his penetrating scientific insight and acerbic wit, Brenner, for many years, authored a regular column ("Loose Ends") in the journal Current Biology.{{cite web|url=http://www.cell.com/current-biology/libraries/loose-ends|title=Library: Sydney Brenner's Loose Ends|publisher=cell.com|access-date=25 August 2015|archive-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506193307/http://www.cell.com/current-biology/libraries/loose-ends|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|last1=Brenner|first1=Sydney|title=Loose Ends|journal=Current Biology|volume=4|issue=1|year=1994|page=88|issn=0960-9822|doi=10.1016/S0960-9822(00)00023-3|doi-access=free|bibcode=1994CBio....4...88B }} This column was so popular that "Loose ends from Current Biology", a compilation, was published by Current Biology Ltd.Loose ends from Current Biology (1997) {{ISBN|1 85922 325 7}} and became a collectors' item. Brenner wrote "A Life in Science",A Life in Science (2001) {{ISBN|0-9540278-0-9}} a paperback published by BioMed Central. He is also noted for his generosity with ideas and the great number of students and colleagues his ideas have stimulated.{{cite web|url=https://www.webofstories.com/people/sydney.brenner/1?o=SH|title=Coming from Eastern European stock|first=Sydney|last=Brenner|via=www.webofstories.com|access-date=9 April 2019|archive-date=24 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924105456/https://www.webofstories.com/play/sydney.brenner/1;jsessionid=49E6A4FDF23AE4227DA43FC7328E3CB1|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/ancestors/brenner.htm|title=Sydney Brenner interviewed by Alan Macfarlane, 2007-08-23 (film)|publisher=alanmacfarlane.com|access-date=12 January 2009|archive-date=16 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416025158/http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/ancestors/brenner.htm|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ibiology.org/archive/genomes-tell-us-about-the-past/|title=Genomes Tell Us About the Past: Sydney Brenner|website=iBiology.org|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=21 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621015821/https://www.ibiology.org/archive/genomes-tell-us-about-the-past/|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://wellcomelibrary.org/using-the-library/subject-guides/genetics/makers-of-modern-genetics/digitised-archives/sydney-brenner/ |title=The Sydney Brenner papers |publisher=Wellcome Library |date=2016-10-25 |access-date=2016-12-01 |archive-date=9 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209062100/http://wellcomelibrary.org/using-the-library/subject-guides/genetics/makers-of-modern-genetics/digitised-archives/sydney-brenner/ |url-status=live }}

In 2017, Brenner co-organized a seminal lecture series in Singapore describing ten logarithmic scales of time from the Big Bang to the present, spanning the appearance of multicellular life forms, the evolution of humans, and the emergence of language, culture and technology.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralimes.ntu.edu.sg/NewsnEvents/10-on-10%20The%20Chronicle%20of%20Evolution/Pages/Home.aspx|title=10-on-10: The Chronicles of Evolution|access-date=6 November 2018|archive-date=28 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228122105/http://www.paralimes.ntu.edu.sg/NewsnEvents/10-on-10%20The%20Chronicle%20of%20Evolution/Pages/Home.aspx|url-status=dead}} Prominent scientists and thinkers, including W. Brian Arthur, Svante Pääbo, Helga Nowotny and Jack Szostak, spoke during the lecture series. In 2018, the lectures were adapted into a popular science book titled Sydney Brenner's 10-on-10: The Chronicles of Evolution, published by Wildtype Books.{{cite book|title=Sydney Brenner's 10-on-10: The Chronicles of Evolution |publisher=Wildtype Books|isbn = 978-9811187186|date = 2018-11-09}}

Brenner also gave four lectures on the history of molecular biology, its impact on neuroscience and the great scientific questions that lie ahead.{{cite web |title=Sydney Brenner's lectures |url=http://www.paralimes.ntu.edu.sg/NewsnEvents/Sydney%20Brenners%20lectures/Pages/Home.aspx |access-date=8 April 2019 |archive-date=28 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228120850/http://www.paralimes.ntu.edu.sg/NewsnEvents/Sydney%20Brenners%20lectures/Pages/Home.aspx |url-status=dead }} The lectures were adapted into the book, In the Spirit of Science: Lectures by Sydney Brenner on DNA, Worms and Brains.{{cite book |title=In the Spirit of Science: Lectures by Sydney Brenner on DNA, Worms and Brains |publisher=World Scientific Publishing Co |isbn=978-981-3271-73-9 |doi=10.1142/11029 |year=2018 |last1=Brenner |first1=Sydney |last2=Sejnowski |first2=Terrence }}

The "American plan" and "European plan" were proposed by Sydney Brenner as competing models for the way brain cells determine their neural functions.{{cite book|first=S.F.|last=Gilbert|title=Developmental Biology|publisher=Sinauer Associates|isbn=978-0-87893-243-6|date=2000|chapter=The Developmental Mechanics of Cell Specification|chapter-url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9968/|place=Sunderland (MA)|url=https://archive.org/details/developmentalbio00gilb}}{{cite book|first=R.|last=McKay|title=Isolation, Characterization and Utilization of CNS Stem Cells|publisher=Springer-Verlag|date=1997|chapter=The Origins of the Central Nervous System|place=Berlin Heidelberg|pages=169–170|editor1-first=F.H.|editor1-last=Gage|editor2-first=Y.|editor2-last=Christen|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OML3CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA169|isbn=978-3-642-80308-6|access-date=13 August 2019|archive-date=24 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924105533/https://books.google.com/books?id=OML3CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA169|url-status=live}} According to the European plan (sometimes referred to as the British plan), the function of cells is determined by their genetic lineage. According to the American plan, a cell's function is determined by the function of its neighbours after cell migration. Further research has shown that most species follow some combination of these methods, albeit in varying degrees, to transfer information to new cells.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TMkfOM1rPuUC&pg=PA64|title=The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Creates the Complexities of Human Thought|last=Marcus|first=Gary Fred|date=2004|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=9780465044054|pages=64|language=en|access-date=6 April 2019|archive-date=24 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924105456/https://books.google.com/books?id=TMkfOM1rPuUC&pg=PA64|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPD8AkvqERMC&pg=PA162|title=Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell|last=Rensberger|first=Boyce|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195125009|pages=162|language=en|access-date=6 April 2019|archive-date=24 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924105454/https://books.google.com/books?id=tPD8AkvqERMC&pg=PA162|url-status=live}}

Brenner received numerous awards and honours, including:{{cite web|url=https://www.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/dual/pauli-dam/04/2004-01_cv.pdf|title=Sydney Brenner CV|work=ETH Zurich|access-date=6 April 2019|archive-date=9 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109193742/https://www.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/dual/pauli-dam/04/2004-01_cv.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2002/brenner/cv/|title=Sydney Brenner Curriculum Vitae|work=NobelPrize.org|access-date=6 April 2019|archive-date=5 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405215956/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2002/brenner/cv/|url-status=live}}

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• Fellow of King's College, Cambridge since 1959.

• William Bate Hardy Prize in 1969.
• Albert Lasker Medical Research Award in 1971.
• Royal Medal from the Royal Society in 1974.

• Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1978 and again in 1991.{{cite web|url=https://gairdner.org/winners/index-of-winners/?_sf_s=sydney%20brenner&_sfm_winner_year=1959+2020|access-date=5 April 2019|title=All Gairdner Winners|website=The Canada Gairdner Awards|archive-date=1 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301065404/https://gairdner.org/winners/index-of-winners/?_sf_s=sydney%20brenner&_sfm_winner_year=1959+2020|url-status=live}}

• Krebs Medal in 1980.
• Novartis Medal and Prize of the Biochemical Society in 1980.
• Rosenstiel Award in 1986.
• Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1986.
• Harvey Prize in 1987.
• Genetics Society of America Medal in 1987.
• Kyoto Prize in 1990.
• Copley Medal in 1991.
• King Faisal International Prize in Medicine in 1992.
• The Dendrobium Sydney Brenner named in 1998 on the occasion of his visit to Singapore's National Orchid Garden the prior year.
• Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/2002/index.html|title=2002 Nobel Prize|publisher=nobelprize.org|access-date=28 September 2008|archive-date=5 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905055451/http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/2002/index.html|url-status=live}}
• Dan David Prize in 2002.{{cite web|url=http://www.dandavidprize.org/index.php/laureates/laureates-2002/75-2002-future-life-sciences/119-prof-sydney-brenner.html|title=Dan David Prize laureate 2002: Sydney Brenner|publisher=dandavidprize.org|access-date=28 September 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723051104/http://www.dandavidprize.org/index.php/laureates/laureates-2002/75-2002-future-life-sciences/119-prof-sydney-brenner.html|archive-date=23 July 2011}} directed by Professor Gad Barzilai
• March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology in 2002.{{citation|title=March of Dimes and Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize in Developmental Biology Awardees|url=https://www.marchofdimes.org/materials/Prize-Award-Recipients-Historical-List.pdf|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=25 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325023621/https://www.marchofdimes.org/materials/Prize-Award-Recipients-Historical-List.pdf|url-status=live}}
• In recognition of his pioneering role in starting what is now a global research community that work on C. elegans, another closely related nematode was given the scientific name Caenorhabditis brenneri.{{cite journal|last=Sudhausi|first=Walter|author2=Kiontke, Karin|title=Comparison of the cryptic nematode species Caenorhabditis brenneri sp. n|journal=Zootaxa|date=25 April 2007|volume=1456|pages=45–62|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/zt01456p062.pdf|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1456.1.2|access-date=20 May 2009|archive-date=10 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070710044058/http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/zt01456p062.pdf|url-status=live}}
• The National Science and Technology Medal by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research awarded Brenner in 2006 for his distinguished and strategic contributions to the development of Singapore's scientific capability and culture, particularly in the biomedical sciences sector.
• In 2008, the University of the Witwatersrand named the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) in his honour.{{cite web|url=http://www.wits.ac.za/research/sbimb|title=Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience|publisher=University of the Witwatersrand|access-date=28 September 2008|archive-date=1 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201005942/http://www.wits.ac.za/research/sbimb|url-status=live}}
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 2017.
• In 2019, a newly discovered species of bobtail squid, Euprymna brenneri, was named in his honour.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oist.jp/news-center/press-releases/theres-new-squid-town|title=There's a New Squid in Town|date=2019-12-11|website=Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University OIST|language=en|access-date=2020-02-15|archive-date=15 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215011000/https://www.oist.jp/news-center/press-releases/theres-new-squid-town|url-status=live}}

{{Div col end}}

Brenner was married to May Brenner ({{Nee|Covitz}}, subsequently Balkind) from December 1952 until her death in January 2010; their children include Belinda, Carla, Stefan, and his stepson Jonathan Balkind from his wife's first marriage to Marcus Balkind. He lived in Ely, Cambridgeshire."Loose Ends" : Collection of Loose Ends/False Starts columns by 'Uncle Syd.' from January 1994 to December 2000 (Current Biology, 1997) {{ISBN|1859223257}}'My Life in Science', with Lewis Wolpert, edited by Errol C. Friedberg and Eleanor Lawrence, BioMed Central, 2001; {{ISBN|0-9540278-0-9}} He was an atheist.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDHwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |title=Candid Science VI: More Conversations with Famous Scientists |author1=István Hargittai |author2=Magdolna Hargittai |page=32 |date=2006 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=9781908977533 |access-date=5 September 2020 |archive-date=24 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924105454/https://books.google.com/books?id=bDHwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA32 |url-status=live }}

Brenner died on 5 April 2019, in Singapore, at the age of 92.{{cite web|first=Sim|last=Shuzhen|title=Sydney Brenner, 'father of the worm' and decoder of DNA, dies at 92|url=https://www.asianscientist.com/2019/04/topnews/sydney-brenner-nobel-laureate-dies-92-c-elegans-obituary/|website=asianscientist.com|date=5 April 2019|access-date=5 April 2019|archive-date=8 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508102530/https://www.asianscientist.com/2019/04/topnews/sydney-brenner-nobel-laureate-dies-92-c-elegans-obituary/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=Sydney Brenner (1927–2019)|url=https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/sydney-brenner-1927-2019/|website=MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology|access-date=6 April 2019|date=5 April 2019|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406115523/https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/sydney-brenner-1927-2019/|url-status=live}}

• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

{{Reflist}}

• Soraya De Chadarevian; Designs For Life: Molecular Biology After World War II, CUP 2002, 444 pp; {{ISBN|0-521-57078-6}}
• Francis Crick; What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery (Basic Books reprint edition, 1990) {{ISBN|0-465-09138-5}}
• Georgina Ferry; 'Max Perutz and the Secret of Life', (Chatto & Windus 2007) 352pp, {{ISBN|978-0-7011-7695-2}}. For uncaptioned picture.
• Robert Olby; Francis Crick: Hunter of Life's Secrets, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, {{ISBN|978-0-87969-798-3}}, published on 25 August 2009.
• Max Perutz; What a Time I am Having: Selected Letters., CSHL Press 2008, 506pp {{ISBN|978-0-87969-864-5}}. For captioned picture.
• Matt Ridley; Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (Eminent Lives) first published in June 2006 in the US and then in the UK September 2006, by HarperCollins Publishers; 192 pp, {{ISBN|0-06-082333-X}}; in paperback, by Atlas Books (with index), {{ISBN|978-0-00-721331-3}}.
• [http://library.cshl.edu/personal-collections/sydney-brenner Sydney Brenner Collection] Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives
• Lewis Wolpert; How We Live and Why We Die, Faber and Faber 2009, 240 pp; {{ISBN|978-0-571-23912-2}}

{{Commons}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [https://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1139457 Interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 23 August 2007 (video)]
• {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2002 Nature's Gift to Science

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 2001–2025}}

{{2002 Nobel Prize Winners}}

{{Order of Mapungubwe|state=collapsed}}

{{Copley Medallists 1951–2000}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenner, Sydney}}

Category:1927 births

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Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine

Category:South African Nobel laureates

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