STOCKHOLM/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies)
Ada Yonath, who became the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel on Wednesday when she was awarded the Chemistry Prize, was once so poor she could not afford books.
The 70-year-old won the prize with two U.S. scientists for "mapping the ribosome -- one of the cell's most complex machineries -- at the atomic level," the Nobel jury said.
It marked just how far she has come since her childhood in a poor family in Jerusalem in the then British-mandate Palestine.
" There was nothing in my childhood to suggest that I would reach this point, even though my parents and family have always thought there was a chance of recognition " Ada Yonath "There was nothing in my childhood to suggest that I would reach this point, even though my parents and family have always thought there was a chance of recognition," a weeping Yonath told Israeli public radio.
She becomes the first Israeli woman to win the prestigious prize and the fourth woman to ever win the Nobel Chemistry prize, including Marie Curie, whose story inspired her to pursue science.
Yonath is the ninth Israeli ever to get the Nobel and the third to win one in chemistry. |
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Study of the ribosome " I never thought about me being a woman or not when I did science " Ada Yonath Yonath, a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, told a news conference by telephone that she was elated to receive the award: "It is above and beyond my dreams."
The award-winning professor has devoted her career to the study of the ribosome, which is crucial in the development of new antibiotics.
"As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for new antibiotics," the Nobel Committee for Chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement.
The academy said many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes.
"Our research spun over many years and developed in different directions... every time I thought I was facing a problem the size of the Everest only to discover there was a bigger Everest behind it," Yonath told public radio.
Curious from a young age, Yonath was inspired to study science after reading about Curie.
"I never thought about me being a woman or not when I did science -- I was just a human being born into an extremely poor family," she once said. "We were so poor we didn't even have books."
She is a strong advocate of encouraging more women to get involved in science.
"Women make up half the population," she says. "I think the population is losing half of the human brain power by not encouraging women to go into the sciences. Women can do great things if they are encouraged to do so." |
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Second protein-related Nobel prize " I think the population is losing half of the human brain power by not encouraging women to go into the sciences. Women can do great things if they are encouraged to do so " Ada Yonath The Nobel prizes are handed out annually for achievements in science, peace, literature and economics. This was the third of this year's Nobel prizes, following awards for medicine or physiology on Monday and for physics on Tuesday.
Prizes for the sciences and for peace were established in the will of 19th century dynamite tycoon Alfred Nobel and have been handed out since 1901. Sweden's central bank began awarding a prize for economics in 1969.
This is the second protein-related prize in a row. Last year's chemistry Nobel was awarded to researchers for the discovery of a glowing jellyfish protein that makes cells, tissues and even organs light up.
Previous winners have included Marie Curie, who won the 1911 prize and is remembered for her contribution to the fight against cancer, and Frederick Sanger, who won the 1958 prize for his work on the structure of proteins, especially insulin. |
