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Last update - 14:15 08/10/2009
Israel's Nobel winner: People called me a dreamer
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israel news, Haaretz TV 

Israeli scientist Ada Yonath, a leading researcher in the structural biology field, was awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday, the Nobel committee in Stockholm announced.

Yonath shares the prize with Britain's Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz, an American, for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.

She told reporters after being informed of her victory that from the very beginning her project seemed to her Nobel-worthy, but many along the way had been wary of her ability to see the research through.
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"From the first indication that perhaps this project would work, I was told that this was a project of Nobel standards."

At another point, however, she was told that her project would not succeed.

"You won't make it, what you want to do - others have tried and failed, so it won't happen. They gave me the impression that the problems were cardinal, that there was no chance."

Yonat said, recalling her decision to undertake research on ribosomes, "People called me a dreamer."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Yonath to congratulate her and expressed his "enormous pride, along with the entire nation" for her achievement.

"The Nobel Prize is a true Olympics of humanity," said Netanyahu. "It is an enormous achievement."

Yonath has focused her research on the structure of the ribosome, a part of the cell that synthesizes protein and translates genetic code in the production of protein.

Yonath was the first Israeli biologist to work with NASA in sending research material to outer space. She cooperated with NASA on 12 missions. Her research contributed greatly to the development of more effective antibiotics, which can overcome phenomenon of drug resistant pathogens.


Yonath is the fourth woman to win the Nobel chemistry prize and the first since 1964, when Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin of Britain received the prize.

"I'm really, really happy," Yonath said "I thought it was wonderful when the discovery came. It was a series of discoveries...We still don't know every, everything, but we progressed a lot."

"I must say I was shocked when they called me and said I was in the leading group. I was sure they were pulling my leg, so I said: 'here, they found themselves a new victim,'" said Yonath.

"I saw the number 46 on the caller ID, the country code for Sweden. So I said, 'they're taking this joke really far,' but the tone was very much Swedish, with a very Swedish accent, so it seemed fine after all."

Yonath is a professor and head researcher in the field of structural biology and biochemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.

She has won many prizes for her research in recent years, including the Israel Prize in Chemistry and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.

This year's three laureates all generated three-dimensional models that show how different antibiotics bind to ribosomes.

It is a matter of having a little faith, said Dr. Jeremy Berg, director of the NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences. He was impressed with Yonath's ideas in 1987, when she spoke to a meeting at the non-profit Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.

"I remember at the time being just completely stunned that she was somewhere between brave enough and crazy enough and because it was way, way, way beyond the technology available at that point," Berg said in a telephone interview.

Yonath found a way to freeze the ribosomes of bacteria and related organisms that thrive in the salty, airless conditions of the Dead Sea and make x-ray images of them.

It is the kind of work companies might shy away from, with a payoff decades in the future, and also arguably something American taxpayers should not have to fund. "But it was seen as certainly completely unique and something potentially so important that it should be funded," Berg said.

"These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering," the academy said in its announcement on Wednesday.

"All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome," the academy said.

Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite, established the Nobel Prizes in his will in 1895. The first awards were handed out six years later.

Each prize comes with a 10 million kronor [$1.4 million] purse, a diploma, a gold medal and an invitation to the prize ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10. The Peace Prize is handed out in Oslo.

Israeli physicist Yakir Aharonov lost the Nobel Prize for physics, despite predictions that he was likely to win. The committee awarded the the physics prize to engineers who developed the mechanism used in digital photography, preferring to award the prize to practical technology that could be used on a daily basis rather than the theoretical physics which Aharonov focused on.

The last Israeli to receive a Nobel Prize was Yisrael Robert Aumann, who was awarded the prize in economics in 2005 for his work on conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis. He shared the prize with Thomas Schelling.

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      1.   mazel tov! 12:21  |  rick 07/10/09
      2.   Professor Ada Yonath 12:22  |  Marco 07/10/09
      3.   nobel prize 12:43  |  ruti 07/10/09
      4.   congrats 12:50  |  Welshman 07/10/09
      5.   candidates in Physics and Literature, winner in chemistry... 12:56  |  S 07/10/09
      6.   Mazeltov to Prof. Ada Yonah for great achievement!! 13:04  |  Esther 07/10/09
      7.   HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS TO PROFESSOR YONATH 13:10  |  Ian 07/10/09
      8.   Congratulations 13:30  |  Walid 07/10/09
      9.   Ada Yonath 13:32  |  j10 07/10/09
      10.   `V` for Victory... 13:36  |  The Prophets 07/10/09
      11.   congragulations !! 13:36  |  mehmet 07/10/09
      12.   some should take the example of Walid from Beirut 13:48  |  Marco 07/10/09
      13.   To Mr or Ms 17 #16 14:10  |  Marco 07/10/09
      14.   #16 14:28  |  Moshe 07/10/09
      15.   #15 14:35  |  Moshe 07/10/09
      16.   We are proud of Ada and Weizmann! 14:42  |  USA 07/10/09
      17.   Not so fast.... 14:48  |  DTJ 07/10/09
      18.   Ada Yonath 15:03  |  Ruth Kraus 07/10/09
      19.   ( :-))) 15:08  |  17 07/10/09
      20.   # 5 S - Weizmann is indeed the wonderful place. 15:12  |  17 07/10/09
      21.   wow, amazing 15:19  |  dani 07/10/09
      22.   Prof.A. Yonath Phd, etc etc. 15:20  |  Stephen. 07/10/09
      23.   Oye, Eitan #15, some bigot had to come out with that... 15:22  |  Esther 07/10/09
      24.   To 17 15:39  |  Hassan, a Palestinia 07/10/09
      25.   Re to # 16 anonymous 17 15:40  |  Michael Dar 07/10/09
      26.   #5 S - Machon Weizmann is the wonderful place... 15:41  |  17 07/10/09
      27.   17 15:45  |  Sean 07/10/09
      28.   There is still Oz to go 15:51  |  Inyaki 07/10/09
      29.   17: we`ll send you toa Tarantino movie. Guess what paper! 15:56  |  Israeli citizen 07/10/09
      30.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 16:06  |  Jean 07/10/09
      31.   Nobel Prize 16:16  |  graczek 07/10/09
      32.   Come On Mark B. #25 _ You Must Be More Intelligent Than That! 16:16  |  Eli 07/10/09
      33.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 16:17  |  Michael Dar 07/10/09
      34.   Congratulations to her!! 16:21  |  harvey 07/10/09
      35.   Mrs. Yonath shows that the Israeli people are very well capable.. 16:26  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/10/09
      36.   I Suppose It Is Getting Under Everyone`s Skin 16:27  |  Eli 07/10/09
      37.   Those who charged Sweden of anti-semitism over article 16:33  |  Joe 07/10/09
      38.   Congratualtions! 16:34  |  Julie 07/10/09
      39.   Congratulations Ada Yonath 16:35  |  Michael 07/10/09
      40.   Welcome change 16:56  |  Yossi 07/10/09
      41.   where she came from 16:59  |  palestine dove 07/10/09
      42.   Those who charged Sweden of anti-semitism over article 17:06  |  Joe 07/10/09
      43.   Mazal Tov To Prof. Yonath 17:21  |  Jeff Rubin 07/10/09
      44.   To 17# ..Ahmed Zewail, also chemistry nobel prize 17:30  |  Steven 07/10/09
      45.   MazaltovMazaltov 17:39  |  well done Professor 07/10/09
      46.   Welshman 17:45  |  oz 07/10/09
      47.   what? 17:53  |  yerushalmi 07/10/09
      48.   why? 18:00  |  oz 07/10/09
      49.   To Eitan #15 18:09  |  JUDGE 07/10/09
      50.   Machon Weizmann is indeed wonderful place 18:10  |  17 07/10/09
      51.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 18:11  |  Eli 07/10/09
      52.   Palestinin dove - " Is she polish russian check hungrian 18:16  |  17 07/10/09
      53.   She is 100% Israeli 18:17  |  Lola 07/10/09
      54.   Noble Prize 18:23  |  Michael 07/10/09
      55.   When I wrote "we do sicence while they do war" I didn`t refer... 18:31  |  Eitan 07/10/09
      56.   # 68 "The Palestinians are fighting to have a viable country..." 18:32  |  17 07/10/09
      57.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 18:35  |  ax 07/10/09
      58.   Mazal tov from Sweden! 18:36  |  Andreas 07/10/09
      59.   Einstein 18:41  |  oz 07/10/09
      60.   To JUDGE #66 18:41  |  S 07/10/09
      61.   palestinian dove and where you come from 18:43  |  Israeli 07/10/09
      62.   Joe in Ecuador 18:44  |  A TRUE American 07/10/09
      63.   Congratulations to Ada Yonath... 18:54  |  Ben Alofs 07/10/09
      64.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 18:56  |  Eli 07/10/09
      65.   #58 palestine dove - if she is polish, russian, czech, hungarian? 18:57  |  S 07/10/09
      66.   #43 Michael Dar, wonderfull indeed, but think of the downside 19:01  |  Mark B. 07/10/09
      67.   how much money was her portion 19:02  |  palestine dove 07/10/09
      68.   #70 Response to Eli 19:07  |  Mark B. 07/10/09
      69.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 19:08  |  palestine dove 07/10/09
      70.   Look at that mini-state Israel w. 4 Nobels 19:13  |  Nora Tel Aviv 07/10/09
      71.   Oh Great Sheik yer booti # 31 _ Great Post _ I Am Still Laughing 19:26  |  Eli 07/10/09
      72.   palestine dove 19:31  |  Oleg 07/10/09
      73.   Congrats, Ada Yonath! Great job! 19:53  |  4:20 07/10/09
      74.   Congrads Ada Yonath! 20:16  |  Jason 07/10/09
      75.   Mazel Tov to Professor Ada Yonah! 04:43  |  Smadar 08/10/09
      76.   BRAVO!! MOBARAK!! MAZAL TOV!!! 06:01  |  iranian 08/10/09
      77.   Another Jew Steals from the Arabs! 06:11  |  MichaelF 08/10/09
      78.   a wonderful win. 08:57  |  ban 08/10/09
      79.   MAZAL TOV Prof A Yonath.In a tiny country with so much to offer 10:10  |  PETER SM 08/10/09
      80.   Prof. Ada Yonath. (The secret ) 13:17  |  The Teacher/Instruct 08/10/09
      81.   BRAGG WE MUST 19:01  |  SIMON 08/10/09
      82.   How misguided Israelis sound today... 19:07  |  Dutch 08/10/09
      83.   Einstein had no G-d! 19:33  |  Tony Silver 08/10/09
      84.   Congratulations Ida:) 22:25  |  elinor from Iran 08/10/09
      85.   Silver in Copenhagen-Your `research` is wrong AGAIN 16:44  |  Christopher 09/10/09
      86.   palestine dove SHE`S A JEW. SIMPLE EVEN FOR YOU, FROM ISRAEL. 21:56  |  Petra 09/10/09
      87.   Eli Berkeley true but, remember Arafat and Jimmy Carter? 21:57  |  Petra 09/10/09
      88.   Joe No take the prize and then boycott Sweden.. 21:59  |  petra 09/10/09
      89.   Congrats from India! 21:58  |  Ajay 10/10/09
      90.   AJAY from India 22:52  |  Truth 12/10/09
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