Ada Yonath – First Israeli Woman to win the Nobel Prize
When Dr. Ada Yonath was asked to place a bet on her chances to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, she decided to answer the question with a question: “Do you think I should go to the hairdresser?” A couple of hours later, she was posing for all the major news networks of the world, with the prestigious title, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry for 2009.
For Dr. Yonath, a 70-year-old researcher from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, winning the prize is a testament to the fact that her controversial work has been adapted in full by the scientific community. When she started working on the Ribosome, the part of the cell responsible for translating DNA into proteins, it was clear that if she succeeded, it would be a Nobel worthy discovery.
Among the many callers that kept Dr. Yonath’s phone lines busy were previous Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, President Shimon Peres, who congratulated Dr. Yonath on her winning: “The entire state of Israel stands behind you today. You have brought pride to every home in the nation.”
The next phone call from the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem was just as heartwarming: “The Nobel medal is a triumph in the Olympics of mind and humanity,” said PM Benjamin Netanyahu. “This is an outstanding achievement for the State of Israel.”
An avid educator, Dr. Yonath has decided to use the media attention to call other girls and women to join the scientific community. In an interview to AFP, Dr. Yonath told reporters, “I would like women to have the opportunity to do what is interesting to them, to go after their curiosity. And I would like the world to be open to that. I know in many places there is opposition to that.”
Dr. Ada Yonath is the ninth Israeli to win the Nobel Prize.
She will share the prize with Americans, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz.
To read more, check out this story in the Wall Street Journal.
5 comments:
Hmmm. What important piece of information is missing from this blog post? And why?
Could it be that the official blog of the State of Israel refuses to recognize that its latest Nobel laureate rejects current Israeli policy toward the Palestinians and the Occupation in general? And says Israel should free ALL Palestinian prisoners?
I wonder why you would want to omit this important information about Prof. Yonath’s views?
[Reply]
admin Reply:
December 10th, 2009 at 10:11 am
@Richard Silverstein,
None of the above; we try to focus on the story and none of our subjects’ political views, regardless of whether they are agreeing to government policy.
Professor Yonath received the Nobel Prize for her scientific achievements which have nothing to do with her political views. Israel is a democracy and every one of our citizens is free to speak up and say whatever they wish.
[Reply]
I see. So if you wrote a story about the prime minister or one of his minsters you’d leave his political views out of the story?
Besides, how can you leave politics out of the discussion when you’re talking about Israel & Israelis. Every Israeli has a political opinion about things. Saying you’re going to leave politics out of the discussion is like saying you’re going to write a blog about Jewish life and refuse to acknowledge Jewish food, or Jewish music.
Yr. explanations appears to be sensible on the face until you examine the underlying assumptions, which are not.
[Reply]
admin Reply:
December 11th, 2009 at 10:53 am
@Richard Silverstein,
While it’s true that nearly all Israelis have opinions about nearly everything, not everything Israelis do is based on politics. By “flattening” Israelis into a one-dimensional, solely political society, you deny the variety and color of the individuals within that society.
We are as proud of Dr. Yonath’s concern with important political issues as we are of her great contribution to science, to Israel and to the world. We would think you would be happy that in a free society such as Israel’s, the government is thrilled to appreciate and promote Dr. Yonath’s achievements regardless of whether her views agree with current policy.
[Reply]
Actually, it is YOU who are flattening Israelis by removing any reference to their political views fr. your blog. Israel is certainly a country of scientific & artistic achievement. But it is you who have refused to acknowledge that Israel’s Nobel laureate not only HAS such political views, but believed they were important enough to her that she referenced them in every major Israeli media interview she did immediately after her award was announced.
I, alas am forced to fill in the blanks because you have a case of political amnesia.
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