The NAS Award in Molecular Biology is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for recent notable discovery in molecular biology by a young scientist who is a citizen of the United States." It has been awarded annually since its inception in 1962. List of NAS Award in Molecular Biology winners Source: NAS 1962 Marshall Nirenberg for his studies of the molecular mechanisms for the biosynthesis of protein. 1963 Matthew Meselson for his leading role in developing and applying methods to measure the transmission of genetic information in the cell. 1964 Charles Yanofsky for his achievements in demonstrating how changes in the gene produce changes in the way protein is made in the body. 1965 Robert Stuart Edgar for his development and application of the method of "conditional lethal mutants" for the analysis of the genetic control of morpho-genesis at the molecular level. 1966 Norton D. Zinder for his discovery of RNA bacteriophages, a new class of bacteria-attacking viruses, which have provided researchers with a highly valuable and convenient method of studying fundamental processes in all living cells. 1967 Robert W. Holley for his elucidation of the full sequence of nucleotides in the molecule of a soluble RNA. 1968 Walter Gilbert for his signal contribution to the understanding of the regulatory mechanisms operative in genetic control of protein synthesis. 1969 for his genetic dissection of the mechanism of assembly of the bacterial virus particle and reconstruction of the virus in vitro. 1970 A. Dale Kaiser for his discovery that pure phage lambda DNA can infect susceptible bacterial cells and produce progeny, and for the effect of this discovery on the whole field of bacterial virus genetics. 1971 Masayasu Nomura for his studies on the structure and function of ribosomes and their molecular components. 1972 Howard M. Temin for his work leading to the discovery of reverse transcription. 1973 Donald D. Brown for his studies of the structure, regulation, and evolution of genes in animals, particularly the genes specifying ribosomal RNA in Xenopus and silk fibroin in Bombix. 1974 David Baltimore for his distinguished leadership in virus research, and for his discoveries on the reproduction and enzymology of RNA viruses that has greatly advanced the science of molecular biology. 1975 Bruce Alberts for the isolation of proteins required for DNA replication and genetic recombination and the elucidation of how they interact with DNA. 1976 Daniel Nathans for his innovative use