Ada Yonath

Professor Ada Yonath is the Martin S. and Helen Kimmel Professor of Structural Biology and Director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She is a pioneer in ribosomal crystallography and developed methods for crystallization and cryo-temperature crystal stabilization. Additionally, she determined the atomic resolution structures of both ribosomal subunits, providing insights into the mechanism of protein synthesis. She also elucidated principles of the action, selectivity, and synergism of ribosomal antibiotics and of resistance to them. In 2009, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, becoming the first Israeli woman to win the prize. She is a member of the USA National Academy of Sciences, Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities, European Academy of Sciences and Art, Leopoldina – the German Academy for Sciences, European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Pontifical (Vatican) Academy of Sciences, Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology, International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), International Academy for Microbiology, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. She has also been a visiting scientist in Biophysics at the University of Chicago and the Dental School at the University of Alabama.