Ada Yonath
22 June 1939 – 31 August 2026
Ada Yonath is an Israeli crystallographer at the Weizmann Institute of Science known for determining the structure of the ribosome. She pioneered cryo-bio-crystallography to keep fragile crystals intact under X-ray beams, and in 2009 shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz, becoming the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Ada Yonath.
- Adonis (1930–present) Overlapped 87 years →
- Ali Khamenei (1939–2026) Overlapped 87 years →
- Arvo Pärt (1935–present) Overlapped 87 years →
- Asha Bhosle (1933–2026) Overlapped 87 years →
- Buzz Aldrin (1930–present) Overlapped 87 years →
- C. N. R. Rao (1934–present) Overlapped 87 years →
Life events
Born to a family that had emigrated from Poland to Mandatory Palestine.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAlso at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHer thesis used X-ray crystallography to study the structure of collagen.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgShe set up the laboratory at the Weizmann Institute after postdoctoral work in the United States.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe crystals were grown from ribosomes of a heat-tolerant bacterium.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgShe headed a unit for ribosomal structure alongside her work in Israel.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHer group reported structures of both the small and large subunits around the turn of the century.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgShared with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.
Source: en.wikipedia.org