Ada Yonath, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (1939–2026)

I was 20 years old when I attended a conference in which, alongside many other highly distinguished figures and scientific institutions, three Nobel laureates took part. One of them was Ada Yonath, who had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, together with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz, for their pioneering studies on the structure and function of the ribosome.

Yonath was also a pioneer in the development of cryo-crystallography methods, which made it possible to better preserve biological crystals during diffraction experiments and contributed decisively to advances in structural biology.

Among the many young women who were among the nearly 500 participants at that gathering, held in the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona, several scientific vocations were awakened. We were impressed to see leading figures from very different disciplines coming together to develop, collaboratively and through dialogue, the concept of social impact, with the aim of helping to reorient science towards improving the lives of all people. There, Ada engaged in dialogue with women and men scientists from different fields, including the social sciences, about how to ensure that scientific knowledge generates real improvements in society.

We were deeply concerned that the conference and its speakers became the target of a media lynching involving extremely serious anonymous accusations, which the Rector of the University of Barcelona had also referred to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In that context, Ada’s support was very important. Yonath had also received the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award in 2008, and her career was in itself an extraordinary role model for young women researchers.

Thanks to scientists like her, many of those young women are researchers today, and we continue working so that those who are now 20 years old may also pursue a scientific career if they wish, without allowing those who seek to obstruct their research careers to succeed in driving them away from it.

Ada Yonath leaves behind far more than scientific discoveries: she also leaves behind scientific vocations that she helped awaken.