First European Crystallography Prize

The European Crystallographic Assn will award the first European Crystallography Prize to Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Inst. of Science Rehovoth, Israel and the Max-Planck Research Unit for Ribosomal Research, DESY, Hamburg, Germany. 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. 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 of her activity centered at the Max-Planck Research Unit in Hamburg, which she also heads.

Members of the European Crystallography Prize Committee, appointed by the Executive Committee of the European Crystallographic Assn, are M. Hursthouse (UK), N. Isaacs (UK), J. Kroon (The Netherlands), C. Mealli (Italy), and E. Mittemeijer (Germany). The Committee was chaired by J. Bernstein (Israel). The Prize is sponsored by Bruker Analytical X-ray, STOE & CIE GmbH, and Philips Analytical B.V.