Nobel Prize "for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription".

Cells use the information stored in DNA as instructions for the fabrication of proteins, which are, in fact, the structural basis of organisms and also the responsible for their operation. This process of transformation of the genetic sequence in a protein is known as "transcription":

Professor Kornberg used a technique called "X ray diffraction" to study the different molecular complexes involved in the process of genetic transcription. His description of these complexes is so detailed that it allows to distinguish each individual atom in the molecules. The level of detail achieved in this molecular characterization allowed, for the first time, to understand in detail how this process takes place, a process which is fundamental in every living organism.

He is the son of Arthur Kornberg, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959 with Severo Ochoa.