The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1989 was awarded jointly to Sidney Altman and Thomas R. Cech "for their discovery of catalytic properties of RNA".
 

Many chemical reactions cannot occur without a catalyst. A catalyst is a molecule which can facilitate a chemical reaction without being consumed or changed. Virtually all chemical reactions taking place in a living cell require catalysts. Such biocatalysts are called enzymes. For example in saliva there is an enzyme which converts starch to glucose, in the liver there is another enzyme which breaks down alcohol. Altman and Cech have now independently discovered that RNA is not only a molecule of heredity but can also serve as a biocatalyst. In addition to this conceptual influence on basic natural sciences, the discovery of catalytic RNA will probably provide a new tool for gene technology, with potential to create a new defence against viral infections.