Ada E. Yonath (, ; born 22 June 1939) is an Israeli chemist and Nobel laureate crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of ribosomes. She is the current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

In 2009, Yonath received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz for her studies on the structure and function of the ribosome, becoming the first Israeli woman to win the Nobel Prize out of ten Israeli Nobel laureates, the first woman from the Middle East to win a Nobel prize in the sciences, and the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Biography
Ada Lifshitz (later Yonath) was born in the Geula quarter of Jerusalem. Her parents, Hillel and Esther Lifshitz, were Zionist Jews who immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel) from Zduńska Wola, Poland in 1933 before the establishment of Israel. Her father was a rabbi and came from a rabbinical family. They settled in Jerusalem and ran a grocery, but found it difficult to make ends meet. They lived in cramped quarters with several other families, and Yonath remembers "books" being the only thing she had to keep her occupied. Despite their poverty, her parents sent her to school in the upscale Beit HaKerem neighborhood to assure her a good education. When her father died at the age of 42, the family moved to Tel Aviv.

Yonath was accepted to Tichon Hadash high school although her mother could not pay the tuition. She gave math lessons to students in return. As a youngster, she says she was inspired by the Polish and naturalized-French scientist Marie Curie. However, she stresses that Curie, whom she as a child was fascinated by after reading her biography, was not her "role model". She returned to Jerusalem for college, graduating from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1962, and a master's degree in biochemistry in 1964. In 1968, she obtained her PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science for X-ray crystallographic studies on the structure of collagen, with Wolfie Traub as her PhD advisor.

She has one daughter, Hagit Yonath, a doctor at Sheba Medical Center, and a granddaughter, Noa. She is the cousin of anti-occupation activist Ruchama Marton.

Scientific career

Yonath accepted postdoctoral positions at Carnegie Mellon University (1969) and MIT (1970). While a postdoc at MIT she spent some time in the lab of subsequent 1976 chemistry Nobel Prize winner William N. Lipscomb, Jr. of Harvard University where she was inspired to pursue very large structures.

In 1970, she established what was for nearly a decade the only protein crystallography laboratory in Israel. Then, from 1979 to 1984 she was a group leader with Heinz-Günter Wittmann at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. She was visiting professor at the University of Chicago in 1977–78. She headed a Max-Planck Institute Research Unit at DESY in Hamburg, Germany (1986–2004) in parallel to her research activities at the Weizmann Institute.

Yonath focuses on the mechanisms underlying protein biosynthesis, by ribosomal crystallography, a research line she pioneered over twenty years ago despite considerable skepticism of the international scientific community. Ribosomes translate RNA into protein and because they have slightly different structures in microbes, when compared to eukaryotes, such as human cells, they are often a target for antibiotics. In 2000 and 2001, she determined the complete high-resolution structures of both ribosomal subunits and discovered within the otherwise asymmetric ribosome, the universal symmetrical region that provides the framework and navigates the process of polypeptide polymerization. Consequently, she showed that the ribosome is a ribozyme that places its substrates in stereochemistry suitable for peptide bond formation and for substrate-mediated catalysis. In 1993 she visualized the path taken by the nascent proteins, namely the ribosomal tunnel, and recently revealed the dynamics elements enabling its involvement in elongation arrest, gating, intra-cellular regulation and nascent chain trafficking into their folding space.

Additionally, Yonath elucidated the modes of action of over twenty different antibiotics targeting the ribosome, illuminated mechanisms of drug resistance and synergism, deciphered the structural basis for antibiotic selectivity and showed how it plays a key role in clinical usefulness and therapeutic effectiveness, thus paving the way for structure-based drug design.

For enabling ribosomal crystallography Yonath introduced a novel technique, cryo bio-crystallography, which became routine in structural biology and allowed intricate projects otherwise considered formidable.

At the Weizmann Institute, Yonath is the incumbent of the Martin S. and Helen Kimmel Professorial Chair.

Political Views

She has called for the unconditional release of all Hamas prisoners, saying that "holding Palestinians captive encourages and perpetuates their motivation to harm Israel and its citizens ... once we don't have any prisoners to release they will have no reason to kidnap soldiers".

Awards and recognition

Yonath is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; the European Academy of Sciences and Art and the European Molecular Biology Organization. On Saturday, 18 October 2014, Professor Yonath was named an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences by Pope Francis.

Her awards and honors include the following:
 In 2002, Israel Prize
 In 2002, Harvey Prize
 In 2004, Massry Prize
 In 2004, Paul Karrer Gold Medal
 In 2005, Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
 In 2006, Wolf Prize in Chemistry along with George Feher.
 In 2006, Rothschild Prize in Life Sciences.
 In 2006, The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture in Life Sciences, along with Professor Peretz Lavie (Medicine) and Professor Eli Keshet (Biology)
 In 2007, Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize along with Harry Noller
 In 2008, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science for her pioneering contributions to protein biosynthesis in the field of ribosomal crystallography and her introduction of innovative techniques in cryo bio-crystallography.
 In 2009, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (co-recipient with Thomas Steitz and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan). She was the first Israeli woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize.
 In 2010, Wilhelm Exner Medal
 In 2011, Marie Curie Medal awarded by the Polish Chemical Society
 In 2013 she became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
 In 2015, she was awarded Honorary Doctorates from the De La Salle University, Manila/Philippines; the Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble/France; the Medical University of Lodz, Lodz/Poland; and the University of Warwick, UK.
 In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University
 In 2020, she was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society
 In 2023, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Jagiellonian University.

See also
 Women of Israel
 History of RNA biology
 List of Israel Prize recipients
 List of female Nobel laureates
 List of Israeli Nobel laureates
 List of Jewish Nobel laureates
 List of peace activists
 List of RNA biologists
 Timeline of women in science
 Women in chemistry

References

External links

 "APS user shares the “Israeli Nobel” for chemistry", from the Argonne National Laboratory Advanced Photon Source (APS), United States Department of Energy
 The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
 Weizmann Institute of Science, Yonath-Site
 Ada Yonath's Publication list
 Talk of Ada Yonath at the Origins 2011 congress
 

1939 births
Living people
People from Rehovot
Nobel laureates in Chemistry
Women Nobel laureates
Israeli Nobel laureates
Albert Einstein World Award of Science Laureates
Crystallographers
Israeli biochemists
Israel Prize in chemistry recipients
Israel Prize women recipients
Israeli Jews
Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent
Israeli pacifists
Israeli women chemists
Israeli women scientists
Jewish chemists
Jewish pacifists
Jews from Mandatory Palestine
Jewish women scientists
L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization
Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Scientists from Jerusalem
Scientists from Tel Aviv
University of Chicago faculty
Academic staff of Weizmann Institute of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science alumni
Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates
Women biologists
Carnegie Mellon University fellows
Massry Prize recipients
Articles containing video clips
20th-century women scientists
21st-century women scientists
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
아다 요나트(, 1939년 6월 22일 ~ )는 리보솜의 구조를 알아내는 것의 개척자로서 잘 알려진 이스라엘의 결정학자이다. 그녀는 현재 Weizmann Institute of Science의 소속이며 Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center의 지도자이다. 2009년, 그녀는 리보솜의 기능과 구조에 대한 연구로 노벨 화학상을 벤카트라만 라마크리시난(미국)과 토머스 스타이츠(미국)과 함께 받음으로써 노벨상을 수상한 첫 번째 이스라엘 여성이 되었다. 하지만, 그녀는 여성이 노벨상을 받는 것은 전혀 특별하지 않은 것이라고 말했다.

성장기 
아다 요나트 예루살렘에서 태어났으며 그녀의 가족은 식료품가게를 하였으나 가난하였다. 그녀의 가족은 비좁은 막사에서 다른 가족들과 살았고, 그러한 과정을 통해 요나스는 책이 가장 중요하다는 것을 깨달았다. 그녀의 가족은 가난했지만 그녀에게 좋은 교육을 보장해주기 위하여 그녀를 고소득층에 속하는 자녀들이 다니는 학교에 보냈다. 그녀의 아버지는 42세에 돌아가셨고, 수업료를 낼 수 없었지만 Tichon Hadash high school에서 받아주었다. 그녀는 폴란드계 프랑스인 과학자인 마리 퀴리가 롤모델은 아니었지만 그녀에게 영감을 받았다고 말했다. 그녀는 대학을 위해 예루살렘으로 돌아와 Hebrew Universoty of Jerusalem에서 1962년에 화학에 관하여 학사 학위를 땄고 1964년에 생화학으로 석사 학위를 땄다. 1968년에 X-Ray 결정학에 관하여 박사 학위를 땄다. 그녀는 Sheba Medical Center에서 의사로 있는 딸이 있고 손녀가 한 명 있다. 그녀는 모든 하마스(팔레스타인의 반이스라엘 과격단체)의 포로들의 해방을 요구하면서 "팔레스타인의 포로들을 가지고 있는 것은 이스라엘과 이스라엘 국민을 해치려는 그들의 동기를 부여하는 일이며, 우리가 어떠한 포로들도 가지고 있지 않다면 그들은 군인들을 납치해갈 이유가 없을 것이다."라고 말했다.

업적 

1970년에 아다 요나스는 이스라엘의 유일한 단백질 결정학 실험실이었던 곳에서 십년동안 근무하였으며 1979년부터 1984년까지 그녀는 막스 플랑크 재단의 분자생물학 실험실을 이끌었으며 그외에도 여러 실험실의 좌장으로서 많은 실험들을 하였다. 아다 요나스는 국제 과학 협회의 상당한 비판에도 불구하고 그녀가 20년 동안 개척해왔던 연구인 리보솜 결정학을 통해 단백질 합성의 기작에 초점을 두고 있다. 리보솜은 RNA를 번역하여 단백질을 합성하는 역할을 하는 장소로서 크기가 크고 복잡한 구조를 가진 세포질에 위치한 분자 중 하나이다. 이러한 리보솜을 연구하여 그녀는 리보솜의 서브유닛과 비대칭적인 리보솜을 발견하였으며 리보솜에 폴리펩타이드 중합과정을 지시하는 부분이 있다는 것을 밝혔다. 결과적으로 그녀는 리보솜이 펩타이드 결합 등에 적합한 리보자임이라는 것을 보였다. 또한 그녀는 리보솜이 종종 항생제의 타켓이 된다는 사실을 통해 리보솜을 타겟으로 하는 20여 가지의 항생제의 활동 방식에 대해 밝혔으며 이를 통해 항박테리아 의약을 개발하는 연구의 많은 도움을 주었다. 아다 요나스는 ribosomal crystallography를 가능하게 하기 위해 창의적인 기술을 소개하였는데, 이는 구조생물학의 보편적인 기술이 되었으며 복잡한 연구들을 진행할 수 있게 해주었다. 아다 요나스는 벤카트라만 라마크리시난(미국)과 토머스 스타이츠(미국)와 함께 세포 내 소기관인 리보솜에서 단백질이 만들어지는 과정을 규명하여 리보솜의 3차원 구조를 밝힌 연구로 2009년에 노벨화학상을 수상하였다. 특이한 점은 3인이 오래전부터 아는 사이이긴 하지만 공동연구가 아니라 각자 독자적인 방법으로 공동목표를 향해 나아가는 경쟁하는 사이였다는 것이다.

수상 실적 및 영예 

아다 요나스는 미국 과학 아카데미, 미국 예술 과학 아카데미, 이스라엘 과학 및 인문학 아카데미, 유럽 과학 및 예술 아카데미, 그리고 유럽 분자 생물학 기구의 회원이다. 2014년 10월 18일에 아다 요나스는 포페 프란시스에 의해 교황학술원의 보통회원으로 임명되었다.
그녀의 수상 실적 및 영예는 다음과 같다.
 In 2000, the first European Crystallography Prize;
 In 2002, the Israel Prize, for chemistry
 In 2006, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (co-recipient with George Feher) "for ingenious structural discoveries of the ribosomal machinery of peptide-bond formation and the light-driven primary processes in photosynthesis"
 In 2007, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize;
 In 2008, she became the first Israeli woman to win the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science|L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science for her vital work identifying how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics
 In 2008, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science for her pioneering contributions to protein biosynthesis in the field of ribosomal crystallography and her introduction of innovative techniques in cryo bio-crystallography.
 In 2009, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (co-recipient with Thomas Steitz and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan).
 As well as the Harvey Prize from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, the Kilby Prize, the F.A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research of the American Chemical Society, the Anfinsen Award of the International Protein Society, the Paul Karrer Gold Medal from the University of Zurich, the Massry Prize from the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California in 2004, the Datta Lectureship and Medal of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies, the Fritz Lipmann Award of the German Biochemical Society and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University.

외부 링크 

 Information and Resources, from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy
 "APS user shares the “Israeli Nobel” for chemistry", from the Argonne National Laboratory Advanced Photon Source (APS), United States Department of Energy
 The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
 Weizmann Institute of Science, Yonath-Site
 Talk of Ada Yonath at the Origins 2011 congress

1939년 출생
살아있는 사람
이스라엘의 생화학자
이스라엘의 여자 과학자
결정학자
노벨 화학상 수상자
이스라엘의 노벨상 수상자
여자 노벨상 수상자
울프상 화학 부문 수상자
예루살렘 히브리 대학교 동문
시카고 대학교 교수
유대계 이스라엘인
폴란드계 이스라엘인
여자 화학자
이스라엘의 평화주의자
바이츠만 과학 연구소 동문
바이츠만 과학 연구소 교수
루이자 그로스 호르위츠상 수상자