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JWR VerifiedFounding RecordJWR-2026-000283

First Jewish Woman Recipient of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry

Record holder

Ada E. YonathPerson

Record value

13 May 2007 — Shared with George Feher

Country represented: IsraelAchievement location: Rehovot, IsraelAchievement date: 13 May 2007Current record

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Ada E. Yonath

Ada E. Yonath, first woman recipient of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.Alain Herzog / EPFL Media Library / Wikimedia CommonsSourceCC BY-SA 4.0

Official record definition

The earliest official Wolf Prize in Chemistry award year in which a woman satisfying JWR Jewish Eligibility at Achievement was personally named a laureate; shared awards count equally.

Measurement methodology

Complete Wolf Prize in Chemistry chronology through the 2006/7 award cycle, official award verification, first-woman chronology review, Jewish Eligibility at Achievement verification, and independent confirmation of the formal presentation date.

Measurement point: Formal presentation of the 2006/7 Wolf Prize in Chemistry at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

Record story

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.

Media

How JWR verified this record

Verification date
5 October 2026
Verification standard
JWR Verification Standard 1.0

Achievement evidence

The Wolf Foundation names Ada Yonath and George Feher as the 2006/7 Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates. Contemporary institutional reporting from the University of California, San Diego states that the prize presentation at the Knesset would take place on 13 May 2007.

Superiority evidence

The complete Wolf Prize in Chemistry chronology before the 2006/7 award contains no woman laureate. Ada Yonath was therefore the first woman recipient; her independently documented Jewish background establishes the narrower JWR record as the first Jewish woman recipient.

Jewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Jewish eligibility verification

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

  • Ada Yonath: the Pioneer — Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

Achievement / record verification

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

  • Ada Yonath — Wolf Foundation
  • Professor Ada Yonath Wins Wolf Prize in Chemistry — Weizmann Institute of Science / American Committee
  • Professor Wins Wolf Prize in Chemistry — University of California, San Diego / Newswise

Superiority / counter-candidate verification

Evidence comparing the result with other candidates relevant to the record claim.

  • The Wolf Prize — Wolf Foundation

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.

Sources & Verification

  • Ada Yonath

    Official recordWolf Foundation

    What this proves: Names Yonath as 2006/7 Chemistry laureate with George Feher.

  • Professor Ada Yonath Wins Wolf Prize in Chemistry

    Independent publicationWeizmann Institute of Science / American Committee

    What this proves: Confirms the award, co-laureate and 2007 presentation.

  • The Wolf Prize

    Official recordWolf Foundation

    What this proves: Complete published chronology supports Yonath as the first woman in Chemistry.

  • Ada Yonath: the Pioneer

    Independent publicationLindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

    What this proves: Provides independent biographical evidence of Jewish family background.

  • Professor Wins Wolf Prize in Chemistry

    Independent publicationUniversity of California, San Diego / Newswise· 8 January 2007

    What this proves: Contemporary UC San Diego release states that Ada Yonath and George Feher would receive the Wolf Prize in Chemistry at a formal Knesset ceremony on 13 May 2007.

History

  1. Verified

    Verified according to JWR Verification Standard 1.0.

  2. Publishedv1

    Published to the official JWR registry.

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