Ada Yonath, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Dies at 87

Professor Ada Yonath, a Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry, passed away on Monday at the age of 87. Yonath was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2009 for her groundbreaking research on ribosomes, the cellular machinery responsible for protein synthesis. Her pivotal findings, presented in the mid-1990s, revolutionized the understanding of this fundamental life process and opened new avenues for combating antibiotic resistance.

Born Ada Libshitz in Jerusalem in 1939, Yonath grew up in modest circumstances. After her father's death when she was 11, she contributed to the family's financial support through various jobs. The family later moved to Tel Aviv, where she attended High School "Hadash." She served in the IDF's Medical Corps, an experience that exposed her to clinical and medical issues, inspiring her to study chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She completed her doctorate with honors at the Weizmann Institute of Science and pursued postdoctoral studies at the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh and MIT.

Returning to Israel in the late 1970s, Yonath established the first biological crystallography laboratory in Israel at the Weizmann Institute. Her research focused on determining the three-dimensional structure of the ribosome using X-ray crystallography. Despite facing skepticism and even ridicule from the scientific community for over two decades, Yonath persevered, supported by the Weizmann Institute, which believed in her potential when international colleagues doubted her. She collaborated with Professor Whitman from Berlin for academic and financial support, and her lab received funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Yonath developed innovative research techniques, including cryo-bio-crystallography, which involves exposing crystals to extremely low temperatures to minimize structural decay under X-ray radiation. Her findings were published in the prestigious journal Nature in 2001. Beyond the Nobel Prize, she received numerous accolades, including the Israel Prize and the Wolf Prize. Her Nobel Prize, shared with Thomas A. Steitz and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, recognized their work on the structure and function of the ribosome.

In her later years, Yonath was outspoken on social and political issues, expressing opposition to the judicial overhaul legislation and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She is survived by her daughter, Dr. Hagit Yonath, a senior physician in genetics.