Born: 1939 (Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine)
Biography:
Ada Yonath, born on June 22, 1939, in the Geula quarter of Jerusalem, is an Israeli chemist and Nobel laureate crystallographer. She is widely recognized for her groundbreaking contributions to the field of structural biology, particularly her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes.
Yonath was born to Hillel and Esther Lifshitz, Zionist Jews who immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine from Zduńska Wola, Poland. Her father, a rabbi, came from a long line of rabbis, and her parents settled in Jerusalem, where they ran a grocery store. Despite their modest means, Yonath’s parents prioritized her education, sending her to school in the upscale Beit HaKerem neighborhood.
After her father’s untimely death at the age of 42, Yonath and her family moved to Tel Aviv. Despite the financial challenges they faced, Yonath’s passion for learning led her to excel academically. She was accepted to Tichon Hadash high school, where she tutored students in math to help cover her tuition.
From an early age, Yonath was inspired by the achievements of Marie Curie, a Polish and naturalized-French scientist. While Curie was not her role model, Yonath found her biography captivating and admired her contributions to the scientific community. This admiration and curiosity paved the way for Yonath’s own pursuit of science.
Yonath returned to Jerusalem for her college education and graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1962. She continued her studies at the same institution, earning a master’s degree in biochemistry in 1964. Her passion for research and desire to delve deeper into the mysteries of the biological world led her to pursue a Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she worked under the guidance of Wolfie Traub. In 1968, Yonath successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis, which focused on X-ray crystallographic studies of collagen’s structure.
Yonath’s scientific journey took her to renowned institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she conducted influential postdoctoral research. During her time at MIT, she had the opportunity to work in the lab of William N. Lipscomb Jr., who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1976.
However, Yonath’s most significant breakthroughs came in the field of ribosome structure. Ribosomes play a crucial role in protein synthesis, and Yonath became fascinated by unraveling their intricate architecture. Over two decades, she meticulously deciphered the three-dimensional structure of ribosomes using X-ray crystallography. Her work shed light on the ribosome’s composition and provided crucial insights into its function.
In recognition of her groundbreaking research, Yonath was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. She shared this honor with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz. Yonath became the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize, joining the ranks of ten other Israeli Nobel laureates. Additionally, she became the first woman from the Middle East to receive a Nobel Prize in the sciences and the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Throughout her career, Yonath has left an indelible mark on the scientific community. Her pioneering work in structural biology has revolutionized our understanding of ribosomes and has paved the way for advancements in antibiotic development. Yonath’s unwavering dedication to research and her commitment to unraveling the mysteries of life at the molecular level continue to inspire aspiring scientists around the world.