ada yonath (b. 1939) - anu - museum

Ada Yonath (b. 1939)A crystallographer and winner of the Nobel Prize. She was a member of the American and European Academies of Science and Arts and headed a Max-Planck Institute Research Unit in Hamburg. In 2009 Yonat won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in recognition of her research on the ribosome, the particle responsible for creating protein in a cell.

Scientists & Economists


Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)One of the greatest physicists of all time, he is best known for "the world's most famous equation," E = mc 2, and for his theory of relativity. His work in quantum mechanics allowed for such inventions as the laser, and he played a significant role in the Manhattan Project (the American project that developed the atom bomb), although he was a

pacifist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.


Rosalind Franklin (1920 – 1958)A chemist and X-ray crystallographer, she studied the structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. Best known for laying the groundwork for discovery of the DNA double helix, her male colleagues in this endeavor were awarded the Nobel Prize for this work to her exclusion, and her own contributions to the discovery of

DNA were largely recognized only after her death.


Baruj Benacerraf (1920 – 2011)An immunologist who won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Born in Venezuela to parents who immigrated from Morocco and Algiers, he studied and lived in the United States. Benacerraf researched the phenomenon of resistance to immunization and white blood cells and later specialized in genetic control of immune response

Economics & Technology

Sergey Brin and Larry Page (b. 1973)Mathematicians and computer scientists, together they co-founded Google. Formerly Google’s CTO and Vice President, today Brin and Page are President and CEO of Alphabet Inc. — Google's parent

company — respectively.


David Sassoon (1792 – 1864)Sassoon was the treasurer of Baghdad. In the wake of Jewish persecution he left Iraq for India, where he built a trade empire that spread through India, China, and Britain. He traded in textile, opium, and cotton, among other commodities. He also founded many public institutions for the

benefit of the Jewish community in India.


Doña Gracia Nasi (1510 – 1569)The richest Jewish woman in renaissance Europe, she traded in spices and gems, among other things. Gracia was a philanthropist who helped Conversos (forcibly converted Jews) who suffered the horrors of the Inquisition. She leased the city of Tiberias from Sultan Suliman with the goal of making it into a major center of Jewish settlement,

trade, and learning.


Helena Rubinstein (1870 – 1965)Founder of a cosmetics and beauty salon empire and the first female multi-millionaire in history. She advised women on beauty and lifestyle issues and contributed a great deal to the world of arts, including founding the Helena Rubinstein Pavilion of Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv.

Leaders

MosesA biblical leader and legislator who was raised in the house of Pharaoh during the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt. He is known for freeing his people from bondage and leading the Israelites to Canaan, the Promised Land. According to Jewish tradition — through disputed by

many scholars and historians — it was Moses who wrote the Bible.

Leaders

David Ben Gurion (1886 – 1973)One of the founders of the Histadrut — and its secretary for 15 years — and one of the founders and longtime leaders of the Mapai political party. He was chairman of the Jewish Agency and the unofficial leader of Jewish settlement prior to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, after which he went on to become Israel's first Prime Minister.

Leaders

Shmuel HaNagid (993 – c. 1056)The minister of finance and war in Spain, he was deputy to the king of Granada and considered the highest ranking Jewish politician of Spain’s Jewish Golden Age. One of the greatest Jewish poets of his time, HaNagid contributed greatly to the overall status of Jews in medieval Spain.

Leaders

Henrietta Szold (1860 – 1945)Teacher, poet, author, editor, and founder of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. In 1920 she immigrated to Palestine where she chaired the Hebrew Women’s Organization and served as head of social work for the Jewish National Council. She was known as "Mother of the Youth Aliyah (Aliyat Hano’ar),” an organization that rescued thousands of Jewish children during the Third Reich.

Cultural Heroes

Moshe Safdie (b. 1938)An Israeli-Canadian architect, Safdie is one of the top ten architects in the world. His projects include the renovated Ben Gurion airport, the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem, the National Gallery in Canada, the

Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore and many more.

Barbra Streisand (b. 1942)A singer, screenwriter and actress, Streisand has won a multitude of awards, including two Academy Awards and eight Grammies. She is one of the most successful artists in entertainment history, and has sold

over 145 million albums worldwide.

Cultural Heroes

Steven Spielberg (b. 1946)One of the most successful directors in Hollywood history, Spielberg has produced a diverse body of work. He is behind such blockbusters as "Jurassic Park," “E.T.” and “Jaws,” and has repeatedly moved audiences with epics such as “Saving Private Ryan” and the Holocaust drama "Schindler's List." He is among the most influential persons in

Hollywood.

Cultural Heroes

Franz Kafka (1883-1924)A Czech author who wrote in German, Kafka is considered one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. Only a few of his works were published during his lifetime; most were salvaged thanks to his friend Max Brod. Kafka asked that his manuscripts be burned after his death, but Brod published them instead. Along with his famous short stories and fragments, Kafka also wrote the notable books "The Castle," "The

Trial," and "The Metamorphosis."

Cultural Heroes

The Courageous

Lydia Litvyak (1921 – 1943)A Russian fighter pilot and the only woman to shoot down a plane in aerial combat. During the Second World War, Litvyak shot down at least 12 German war planes, earning her the title of fighter ace. She was also

awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union."

The Courageous

Samson the HeroAccording to the Bible, he had supernatural strength. He judged Israel for twenty years, during which he battled the Philistines. Active in the area between Zorah and Eshtaol, he died bringing the temple of

Dagon down upon his Philistine enemies.

The Courageous

Alfred Dreyfus (1859 – 1935)A decorated officer in the French Army who was wrongly accused of treason. He battled a hostile system to preserve his honor and clear his name. After his name was cleared, he returned to the French Army and

served as a commander during World War I.

The Courageous

Hannah Szenes (1921 – 1944)A poet and paratrooper, Szenes worked as an instructor in the HaNoar HaOved youth movement and served in the Haganah. In 1943 she volunteered for the British Army, serving in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and the Special Operations Executive. She parachuted near the Hungarian border and was

captured and executed by the Nazis.

Thinkers

Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939)A doctor and the founding father of psychoanalysis. Freud tried to understand the activity of the psyche and its influence on the human body and behavior. He laid the groundwork for studying man through therapy and psychotherapeutic discourse. He dealt extensively in Jewish culture and its psychoanalytic

significance.

Maimonides (HaRambam) (c. 1138 – 1204)Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon was one of history’s greatest Halachic interpreters and Jewish philosophers. He authored Mishneh Torah, which summarized Jewish Law, and The Guide for the Perplexed, which combined Greek and Jewish philosophies. He believed that

philosophy was the route to faith.

Thinkers

Thinkers

Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975)A philosopher. She published a great many books and historical and philosophical articles analyzing phenomena such as totalitarian regimes, political concepts and movements, Israeli-Arab relations, Holocaust-related issues, and more. She reported on the Eichmann trial as a journalist for The New Yorker and coined the term "the banality of evil."

Thinkers

Moses Mendelssohn (1729 – 1786)Known as "the German Socrates," Mendelssohn was the father of the Jewish Enlightenment. His writings and publications were highly influential, and in them he preached tolerance and called upon the Jews to assimilate into their environments. Among his accolades was a literary prize from the Prussian Academy of Arts, and he was highly

influential in bringing Jews into mainstream European culture.

Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677)One of the greatest philosophers in modern history, Spinoza was born to a family of Portugese refugees who immigrated to Amsterdam. His criticisms of the Bible laid the groundwork for secularism, while his writings on ethical thought, methodological philosophy, and critical

thinking heavily influenced the 18th-century Enlightenment.

Revolutionaries

Rosa Luxemburg (1871 – 1919)A socialist leader and revolutionary who contributed greatly to the betterment of working conditions for laborers and to the elimination of child slavery. Ahead of her time, she worked tirelessly against

exploitation and injustice until she was murdered for her beliefs.

Revolutionaries

Betty Friedan (1921 – 2006)One of the most prominent feminist activists of the 20th century. Her efforts contributed greatly to women’s lives shifting away from the domestic sphere and into the global environment. She emphasized the importance of women seeking meaningful lives outside of the

family unit.

Revolutionaries

Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858 – 1922)Reviver and innovator of the modern Hebrew language. He believed that the use of Hebrew was the way to create Jewish nationality and commonality in Israel. The editor of several Hebrew-language newspapers, he fought to institutionalize Hebrew and was instrumental

in forming the Academy of the Hebrew Language.

Revolutionaries

Revolutionaries

Theodor (Benjamin Ze'ev) Herzl (1860 – 1904)Herzl envisioned the Jewish state, believing it to be the sole solution to the global persecution of the Jewish people. To this end, he promoted migration to Palestine and founded the World Zionist Congress which led to the formation of the World Zionist Organization. He worked with

global leaders in order to promote his ideas.

Athletes

Mark Spitz (b. 1950)An Olympic swimmer. At the age of ten he was the world champion of children's swimming. A world record-holder, Spitz won a whopping seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. In total he won eleven

Olympic medals throughout his career, nine of them gold.

Sandy Koufax (b. 1935)A baseball pitcher who broke many records and was the youngest pitcher to be inaugurated into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He won four World Series championships and is on the Baseball Almanac’s list of 100 greatest players of all time. He famously refused to pitch the first game of the 1965 World Series because it was played on Yom Kippur.

Athletes

Judit Polgár (b. 1976)A Hungarian chess grandmaster and the youngest in the history of chess. Over the course of her career she defeated eleven world champions. Upon her retirement she was elected head coach of the Hungarian men's team and received Hungary's highest honor. Generally considered the strongest female chess player in history, she

competed in men's tournaments, not women's.

Athletes

Victor Perez (1911 – 1945)A Tunisian boxer who became the World Flyweight Champion and was the youngest world champion in boxing history. In World War II he was sent to Auschwitz where he died on the death march that left the camp on January 18, 1945. Over the course of his career he participated in over 130 fights and won them all, including one against

a German kapo heavyweight.

Athletes

ada yonath (b. 1939) - anu - museum

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