The European Crystallographic Association is to award the first European Crystallography Prize to Professor Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovoth, Israel and the Max-Planck Research Unit for Ribosomal Research, DESY, Hamburg, Germany. Professor Yonath is being recognized for her pioneering achievements in structural studies on the ribosome, the universal cellular organelle on which protein biosynthesis takes place.
The European Crystallography Prize, which includes a monetary award as well as a certificate of recognition, will be presented at the upcoming 19th European Crystallography Meeting to be held in Nancy, France, August 25-31, at which Professor Yonath will describe the work for which she is being honored.
Members of the European Crystallography Prize Committee, who were appointed by the Executive Committee of the European Crystallographic Association, are Professor Michael Hursthouse, University of Southampton, UK, Professor Neil Isaacs, University of Glasgow, UK, Professor Jan Kroon, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, Professor Carlo Mealli, ISSECC -CNR, Florence, Italy, and Professor Eric Mittemeijer, Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and University of Stuttgart, Germany. The Committee was chaired by Professor Joel Bernstein, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
Professor Yonath was born in Jerusalem and received her Ph.D. under the direction of Prof. Wolfie Traub at the Weizmann Institute, where she is the incumbent of the Martin A. Kimmel Chair in Structural Biology and Head of the Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Assemblies. Her pioneering work over many years in pursuit of the ribosome structure which she has orchestrated on an international scale, has been concentrated in Europe, with a significant portion her activity centered at the Max-Planck Research Unit in Hamburg, which she also heads.
The European Crystallography Prize is sponsored by Bruker Analytical X-ray, Karlsruhe, Germany, STOE and CIE GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany and Philips Analytical B.V., Almelo, The Netherlands