Quotes from Ada Yonath

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.

Many ribosomes act simultaneously along the mRNA, forming superstructures called polysomes.

It is a great honor for me to be able to express my sincere gratitude to the Nobel Foundation.

Even if I tried to fill up the stadium in Ramat Gan, I don't think I could.

I'm truly glad I've managed to get the public interested in questions about basic research.

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.

There are over 7,000 different types of proteins in typical eukaryotic cells; the total number depends on the cell class and function.

During my time I had some very difficult years, and I had very pronounced competition, all by men.

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.

After I spent my compulsory army service in the 'top secret office' of the Medical Forces, where I was fortunate to be exposed to clinical and medical issues, I enrolled to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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.

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.