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Awards · Nobel PrizeFirst

First Jewish Woman to Win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Record holder

Ada E. YonathPerson

Record value

10 December 2009

Country represented: IsraelAchievement location: Jerusalem, IsraelAchievement date: 10 December 2009Current record

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Verified by Jewish World RecordsHow we verify records

Portrait of Nobel Prize-winning crystallographer Ada Yonath

Ada E. Yonath at EPFL on 17 December 2019.Alain Herzog / EPFL Media Library / Wikimedia CommonsSourceCC BY-SA 4.0

Official record definition

The earliest natural woman who satisfied the JWR Jewish Eligibility Standard at the time of achievement and was personally named as a Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate. Shared prizes count; nominations, institutional-only recognition and awards in other Nobel categories are excluded.

Measurement methodology

Official Nobel women-laureate chronology through 2009 combined with individual Jewish Eligibility at Achievement review of every earlier female Chemistry laureate.

Measurement point: Personal receipt of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Record story

Israeli structural biologist Ada E. Yonath became the First Jewish Woman to Win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry when she was jointly awarded the prize on 10 December 2009. Yonath shared the honour with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". Her long-running crystallographic work made it possible to visualize one of the cell's most complex molecular machines, which in turn helped to explain the molecular action of important antibiotics.

This achievement established a new first for a Jewish woman in the Chemistry category. The complete official chronology of female Chemistry laureates before 2009 consisted of Marie Curie (1911), Irène Joliot-Curie (1935), and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1964). Independent review of biographical sources confirmed that none of these earlier laureates met the standard for Jewish Eligibility at the time of their awards.

Media

Record video

How JWR verified this record

Verification status
Verified
Verification date
29 September 2026
Verification standard
JWR Verification Standard 1.0

Achievement evidence

NobelPrize.org confirms Ada E. Yonath as a joint 2009 Chemistry laureate with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz, for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.

Superiority evidence

The complete official female Chemistry chronology before 2009 consists of Marie Curie (1911), Irène Joliot-Curie (1935) and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1964). Independent biographical review found Curie was falsely rumored to be Jewish, Joliot-Curie was an atheist daughter of non-Jewish parents, and Hodgkin was not religious and had Quaker affinities. None passes Jewish Eligibility at Achievement.

Jewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Jewish eligibility verification

Evidence establishing that the holder qualifies as Jewish for JWR purposes.

  • Ada E. Yonath — Facts and Biographical — Nobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org
  • Earlier female Chemistry laureates — eligibility review package — American Institute of Physics; Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography; Hektoen International

Achievement / record verification

Evidence establishing that the holder achieved the result and holds the record as defined.

  • The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 — Nobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org
  • Nobel Prize awarded women — Nobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org
  • Ada Yonath — Nobel ceremony player — Nobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org

Jewish eligibility, achievement and superiority evidence retain their separate classifications and are never merged. Context and provenance are not presented as proof of the achievement. Restricted evidence and internal research notes are never published. Learn more about the seven-stage process on the verification page.

Have documented contrary evidence or a stronger counter-candidate? Submit a challenge for review.

View public sourcesChallenge this record

Sources & Verification

  • The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009

    Official recordNobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org· 2009

    What this proves: Confirms Yonath as a joint 2009 Chemistry laureate and the official prize motivation.

  • Ada E. Yonath — Facts and Biographical

    Official recordNobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org

    What this proves: Records Yonath’s birth and death dates, 2009 prize, affiliation and Jewish-parent background.

  • Nobel Prize awarded women

    Official recordNobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org

    What this proves: Establishes Marie Curie, Irène Joliot-Curie and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin as the only women to win Chemistry Nobels before Yonath.

  • Earlier female Chemistry laureates — eligibility review package

    Independent publicationAmerican Institute of Physics; Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography; Hektoen International

    What this proves: Marie Curie was falsely rumored to be Jewish; Irène Joliot-Curie is documented as an atheist; Dorothy Hodgkin is documented as not religious with Quaker affinities.

  • Ada Yonath image by Alain Herzog — Wikimedia Commons

    Institutional archiveWikimedia Commons / EPFL Media Library· 17 December 2019

    What this proves: Documents author, EPFL source, VRT-confirmed permission and CC BY-SA 4.0 International license.

  • Ada Yonath — Nobel ceremony player

    Official recordNobel Prize Outreach / NobelPrize.org

    What this proves: Official Nobel moving-image ceremony page associated with the 2009 Chemistry award.

History

  1. Verified

    Verified according to JWR Verification Standard 1.0.

  2. Publishedv1

    Published to the official JWR registry.

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Record holder

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