PersonJewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Ada E. Yonath

Israeli structural biologist and first woman Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureate.

Rehovot, Israel

Alain Herzog / EPFL Media Library / Wikimedia CommonsSourceCC BY-SA 4.0

Biography

Ada E. Yonath was an Israeli crystallographer and structural biologist whose pioneering research revealed the architecture and function of the ribosome. Born in Jerusalem on 22 June 1939, she pursued scientific training in Israel and built a research career focused on understanding how ribosomes translate genetic information into proteins. Her group developed innovative crystallographic approaches that helped produce high-resolution structures of ribosomal components and transformed the study of protein synthesis. In 2007 Yonath shared the Wolf Prize in Chemistry with George Feher for major structural discoveries, becoming the first woman to receive that prize in chemistry. Two years later she shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome. Her work has had lasting importance for structural biology, molecular medicine and the understanding of antibiotic action.

Public links

Records held by Ada E. Yonath

JWR VerifiedFounding Record

AwardsFirst

First Jewish Woman Recipient of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry

Record holder

Ada E. Yonath

Record value

13 May 2007 — Shared with George Feher

Ada E. Yonath became the first woman to receive the Wolf Prize in Chemistry when she shared the 2006/7 award with George Feher. The prize was formally presented at the Knesset in Jerusalem on 13 May 2007. Yonath was honored for pioneering structural discoveries of the ribosomal machinery of peptide-bond formation, work that transformed structural biology and later contributed to her 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Institutional biographical sources document her Jewish family background, supporting JWR Jewish Eligibility at Achievement. JWR uses the exact ceremony date as the Record Value, while the 2006/7 award-cycle designation and shared-award context remain in the story and evidence. Yonath died on 31 August 2026 at age 87.

Country represented: Israel
Achievement location: Rehovot, Israel
Achievement date: 13 May 2007

View full record