“I was described as a dreamer, a fantasist, even the village idiot. I didn’t care. What I cared about was convincing people to allow me to go on with my work.” — Ada Yonath, in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle
In 1939, renowned biologist Ada Yonath was born to an impoverished family in Jerusalem. Sharing a rented four-bedroom apartment with two other families, much of her early years consisted of rugged conditions, in which she helped supply income and take care of the family. At an early age, Yonath expressed an interest in scientific discovery and curiosity in the world around her. Despite limited funds, her parents sent her to a prestigious grammar school, and made her education their highest priority.
Eventually, Yonath was accepted into Tichon Hadash high school, where she taught math lessons to cover her tuition costs. Despite many difficulties early in her life, Yonath went on to Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she completed her undergraduate degree in chemistry and master’s degree in biochemistry.
She then went on to complete her PhD in x-ray crystallography, in hopes to reveal the first high-resolution structure of collagen, a protein commonly found in skin. After two post-doctoral positions at Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Yonath established the first protein crystallography lab of its kind in Israel.
In the 1970s, Yonath set on an ambitious route to discover the underpinnings of biosynthesis. More specifically, her mission was to determine the three-dimensional structure of the ribosome, which is the part of the cell responsible for making protein. It’s through the ribosome that DNA translation, the final stage in producing proteins within the cell, occurs. Over many years, she came to discover the nitty-gritty of how over 20 antibiotics work, why some bacteria are antibiotic-resistant, and the structural basis of antibiotic selectivity, when antibiotics are selected for certain jobs dealing with specific bacteria.
Despite many years of ridicule and skepticism from the scientific community, Yonath became the first Israeli woman to win the Nobel Prize, the first woman from the Middle East to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences, and the first woman in nearly 50 years to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
In essence, the contribution of so many extraordinary women such as Ada Yonath have paved the way for future women scientists to make breakthroughs in their respective fields.
As women, we must continue to move forward strongly and fearlessly to abolish unique challenges still lingering today with the sciences
“I don’t walk into the lab in the morning thinking, ‘I am a woman, and I will carry out an experiment that will conquer the world.’ I am a scientist, not a male or female. A scientist.” — Ada Yonath, in an interview with The Los Angeles Times
Graphic by Manoj Thayalan
