Ada Yonath Quotes
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At the end of the 1970s, I was a young researcher at the Weizmann Institute with an ambitious plan to shed light on one of the major outstanding questions concerning living cells: the process of protein biosynthesis.
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If one has curiosity, then one stands the chance of attain a high level of scientific inquiry.
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I wanted to reveal how genetic code is translated into protein. I knew a great application could be for antibiotics, since half of the useful ones target the ribosomes, but I didn't believe I could contribute to it. It was like the next Mount Everest to conquer. It was my dream to contribute something to humanity.
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I was born in Jerusalem in 1939 to a poor family that shared a rented four-room apartment with two additional families and their children.
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Words originating from the verb 'to die' were frequently used when I described my initial plans to determine the ribosome structure.
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The world was not supportive. They look at me as a joke for 13 to 14 years until I could prove feasibility; then I had competitors. Those that laughed at me became my competitors.
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There are over 7,000 different types of proteins in typical eukaryotic cells; the total number depends on the cell class and function.
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I was born in Jerusalem with a religious background and a rabbi as a father... it was rather poor, but what we did have, we did have books.
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For quite a while, I didn't receive a higher academic status. I didn't feel any discrimination against me as a woman scientist, but I hadn't produced a lot of science journal articles.
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I'm always having to get rid of reporters.
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Proteins are constantly being degraded. Therefore, simultaneous production of proteins is required.
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Problems should be solved by talking and not in an aggressive manner.
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My memories from my childhood are centered on my father's medical conditions alongside my constant desire to understand the principles of the nature around me.
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I was described as a dreamer, a fantasist, even as the village idiot. I didn't care. What I cared about was convincing people to allow me to go on with my work.
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People are obsessed with my haircut; everyone wants to do something with my hair before the ceremony. Very senior figures tell me their hairstylist wants to do my hair for free. It's surprising. People from television are interested almost exclusively in aspects of my hair and my hairdresser.
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I am against boycotts in general: boycotts against us as well as anything and everything that can be boycotted.
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Even if I tried to fill up the stadium in Ramat Gan, I don't think I could.
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I don't walk into the lab in the morning thinking, 'I am a woman, and I will carry out an experiment that will conquer the world.' I am a scientist, not male or female. A scientist.
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Anyone who sits in our jails who is not just a criminal but what we call a terrorist, with or without blood on his hands - and these definitions are also unclear to me - should not be sitting in our custody.
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Many ribosomes act simultaneously along the mRNA, forming superstructures called polysomes.
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My parents were Zionists born in Poland. My father was a rabbi who didn't know much about science and ran a grocery store in the neighborhood with my mother's help.
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Waiting for me in Stockholm will be a personal assistant - Katrina from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs - as well the secretary of the Swedish Academy. They'll help us with our things and take us to our hotel. From the moment I arrive, I'll always be together with the other two laureates.
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My neighborhood didn't really encourage women, though it didn't prevent women from progressing, either.
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I'm truly glad I've managed to get the public interested in questions about basic research.