said Prof. Ada Yonat, the recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, in response to a question from the science website at the press conference following the announcement of the award. According to Prof. Yonat, this is a global problem and does not concern only Israel
The press conference was opened by Prof. Israel Bar-Yosef, Vice President of the Weizmann Institute:
"On behalf of the president of the institute, Daniel Zeif, who is in the USA, my fellow scientists and the Weizmann Institute, I would like to congratulate Ada on your winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009. We are proud of you and blessed by your achievement. I think it is fitting that a journey that began here a few decades ago with a modest job and a modest budget and expanded into a research project in which dozens of scientists are partners reaches an important stop here in the same place, at the Weizmann Institute, which was the playground where Ada's research activities were conducted for the past decades."
Prof. Yonat's research was motivated by curiosity and a desire to better understand the world and our place in it. Ada Kiuna far and away one of the key questions of the world of biology, she navigates her way with courage, originality and a lot of devotion to the goal, and research that started with an attempt to understand one of the principles of nature eventually led to an understanding of how antibiotics work and we hope it will also lead to the development of new drugs. Ada is an example of the way in which scientific vision, courage in choosing a big question and adherence to a goal can lead to both success and the expansion of human knowledge, congratulations"
Then the floor went to Prof. Ada Yonat who gave short speeches and later answered questions. "You can tell with my relationship with the Weizmann Institute that made the work possible, even though, as Prof. Bar Yosef said now, the conduct of the years was particularly difficult. I really appreciate it. I don't believe it, I know that there is almost no scientific institution that would allow this research to be conducted in its fields and would give both mental and practical support and connect me with donors on the one hand and with scientists on the other. "
"I also want to say thank you to my family. My father died when I was very young and my mother who carried me along the project until 12 years ago, to my daughter, my sister and my granddaughter who agreed to accept me as I am. The research meant that I would be away from home a lot, a lot here in the evenings and a lot in the sand, they were proud and even tried to participate in the research. And of course thanks to the scientists who work with me, who all came in the afternoon despite the holiday."
Dana Weiss, Channel 2 News: "How did you feel the moment you received the award?
Yonat: "I was happy and I have to say I was amazed. Yesterday when they called me from AP and said that I was in the starting group, I was sure that they were stretching me after two days before they announced about Yakir Aharonov, and they also made a mistake in guessing the winners in medicine, I said here, find a new victim here. But they didn't let up and then they called from Reuters in Jerusalem, we thought there was a plot against me."
"From the moment I reached the first, preliminary finding, which gave an indication that maybe this project would go, they said it was a project at the level of a Nobel Prize, but it wouldn't make it, as we progressed and broke through, more and more pats on the back, when we reached the break-in and we had competitors that two of them would receive along with me. It doesn't seem to me that we will receive so quickly, and why rush, there are people who wait 40 years for what we will only wait for 2001 (the year when they started talking about the possibility of winning the AB). The fact that people talked about it was clear to me, and many times when they described it they said we wouldn't be surprised if she accepted, it seemed to me a news or media stunt. The award committee is made of people and they have all kinds of qualities and they receive all kinds of information details that are not even known to me, especially the matter of time, why think about it now. Aharonov has been waiting for 50 years, I waited a little but not long and of course I was happy, and even today, when I saw Sweden's prefix on the phone I thought I was continuing the game, but then a Swedish lady from the academy spoke to me."
Nega Nir-Naman, Channel 10 reporter wants to know what the research is - in simple words?
"In every living cell - a single one like a bacterium or part of a complex like a body, a person for example, a snake, an elephant, in every living cell there is a constant creation of the cell's workers - the cell has to act, it has to do things, even a bacterium's cell has to build itself and divide. We We also have to do other things - digest, breathe, hit, shout, get angry. The cell accumulates the instructions for how the cell functions in its genetic material, the DNA. When that part of the code that needs to be expressed receives a command to be expressed, there are small factories in the cell, tens of thousands of them and they express it and the other proteins. They know how to read the code language, create the workers called proteins, know how to make sure there are no errors, know how to protect them until they protect themselves. These factories are called ribosomes, that's what we tried to solve. This is in terms of pure scientific curiosity. In terms of their medical aspect, the more practical aspect, since these factories are so important to life, the antibiotics attack them, almost half of the useful antibiotics in the world, attack the process of creating proteins from the genetic code. We tried to see how the antibiotics, which are tiny compared to these factories, know how to paralyze them and how the bacteria that cause the diseases, pathogenic bacteria, know how to find mechanisms that will create resistance against them.
Dana Weiss Channel 2 News: What do you say to a student who is starting to study science in Israel, what do you think about the higher education crisis?
"In the first year, they usually don't come to me. Either they come before their first year or they already have a bachelor's degree. I tell them that a scientist should work out of curiosity, that if they have curiosity to understand the significant processes, there is also a chance that they will both enjoy their work and achieve achievements."
Does the environment in Israel support and enable a scientist who is just starting out to make it to the Nobel Prize?
"I don't think the environment was supportive and someone told me 'in 30 years you will receive a Nobel Prize.' Compared to the world when I started in Israel the level was lower relative to the world. Not only the technological level, but also the scientific level in Israel was relatively low in the world. Now we are closer to the high level of the world. When I finished my doctorate here at the Weizmann Institute on the structure of proteins, there was not a single course on this, while in the world, at least at Harvard, there was a course, and there was more awareness. Not that I have any complaints, I think what we achieved back then was very high, today the difference between us and the rest of the world is not very big. You can ask if in the whole world it is possible to tell a student whether he will study science or enjoy science, only if he likes it."
Itai Vared, Channel 1: What brings a person to reach an achievement contrary to all the opinions around?
"Luckily for me there wasn't much time for there to be a shred of hope that he would succeed. It took a few months, then it took a year before I realized there was something in what I was seeing, but I didn't let it.
Most of the professors who said it wouldn't work, mockingly said, well, you're young, try it."
"My desire to understand the process of creating proteins according to the genetic code was strong enough to try more and more. The beginning of the work was with a partner, director of a scientific institution in Berlin, Gunter Wittmann who supported this work in an exceptional way, in terms of people, budgeting, equipment. There were two members of the Nobel Prize who said - such a subject must not be stopped. Although he did not take out bills from his pocket, he supported. The Weizmann Institute opened the Kimelman Center which provided computing and means."
I would like to mention the Weizmann Institute which supported in terms of computing and means following the great support of the professional committee which included two Nobel laureates. The majority did not support, but the three or four who did supported threw all their weight and it helped.
In response to the Walla reporter's question about her being the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry since 1964: "Since 1964 there have been good women in science, but maybe there have been better men. From the moment I was informed, I forgot about femininity. I'm a human being, as far as I'm concerned I'm a human being, as far as the president of the institute is concerned I'm a human being and as far as the people who work with me are concerned, maybe behind my back they're talking about femininity."
The field of higher education has been cut by many billions since Bibi's time in the Ministry of Finance, for 20 years science is not taught, science is not shown on television, there is no scientific education, everyone wants to be famous and knowledgeable and not scientists, how do you bring back the lost generation?
If I refer to what you said, the money Bibi took should simply be returned. How do you return the aura to science from the aura of the celebrities, I am here next to all the media people can't be against the celebrities, against the general mood both here and in the world. Celeb is a little more important than Prof.
As for being able to stand my weight, I do so even now, maybe it doesn't look like Hershko and Chechenover, but they were in a higher position than me.
The Prime Minister called, the Minister of Defense called, the President called, the Minister of Science called and the Minister of Education called and even said that he would come and see how science is done so maybe this is one of the ways we can convince him.
A Galz reporter asks, against the background of brain drain and the lack of budgets, can we win more awards?
Among the members of the younger generation that I know now, especially the very young, there are outstanding scientists who do outstanding science. Many do not return and many doctors who study in Israel do not return, I don't exactly know how to handle these matters, but to say that there are no scientists, there is one female scientist here and other scientists in Israel, a total of six young scientists received the EU budget - one million euros. Many do not return, we would like more of the best.
Will we win the Nobel even in 30 years?
I hope so, I'm not a prophet and I don't know what will happen in 30 years.
More on the subject on the science website
- The work of Prof. Yonat made it possible to understand the mode of action of five antibiotic drugs
- Ada Yonat won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- For an interview with Ada Yonat that was published in Scientific American about a year ago - polar bears and drunken ribosomes
- The ribosome cracker - an interview for the Weizmann Institute magazine
- The mysteries of the peptide bond - Weizmann Institute magazine
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J. Apparently the photos of the photon band are in the Ahval Space Telescope...
I just got angry at these rants, that too many people in my opinion see them as real science.
my father
Thanks for the interesting link... it's just a shame that Einstein tried so hard to discover the photon when the Mayans (perhaps the reference is to the ancient tribe in South America? Or am I confusing the names?) already knew that the Milky Way(...) revolves around the center of the galaxy and these days we will enter the photon band(?). D.A. Is it possible to get the images from the Hubble telescope of that photon band? 🙂
Hi Abby,
I don't believe in gradual goal setting, especially not in the current age where everything is done at the same time. There are popular science websites, led by Hidan, who do a sacred job in imparting science to the public and especially to the interested public. I believe that aside from the science activity, it is possible and worthwhile to work in additional channels similar to the ones I mentioned.
who knows? Maybe when I finish my doctorate, if I don't choose to continue the academic path, I will try to promote those avenues myself... but there is still time until then.
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my new blog - Another science
Roy, before that we just have to give the public tools to understand what science is and what gibberish masquerading as science is
http://www.namaste.co.il/articles/articletype/articleview/articleid/182/-2012/
Hi Amit,
We agree on the basic facts. There should be science reporters in the regular newspapers, and it's a shame that there are no daily newspapers or main TV channels in Israel that employ a full-time science reporter.
The truth is that there is an audience for science. The question is only what science and how it is presented. Science can be sexy, shapely, elegant and charming. It can also be difficult to understand, cumbersome, strange and completely impractical or intuitive. It all depends on the way of presentation, and this must change according to the target audience. The trouble is that the word 'science' in itself is enough to drive many people away. I believe that in order to bring science to the entire public (and not only to those who are interested enough to enter the science website), it should be included everywhere: in the reality format, in SMS messages, in the daily sections and more. It's not in the sky. There are programs that have done it well: Hiha Hiha, Hayim, Bicker's Laboratory, Brainiacs and others. If you know a producer who would like to create similar programs in Israel, you are welcome to contact me and him.
Shabbat Shalom,
Roy.
Well I got it. It's really excessive to bombard everyone with strange concepts.
Still, the media's approach to these issues bothers me.
As there are professional articles in various fields - why are there no scientific articles in the regular newspapers?
Like on TV - why are there no scientific news supplements? Doesn't it have enough audience?
By the way, there is such a thing as 'science', because there is the 'Israeli science website' that talks about these issues.
It's a shame that he (or something like him) is not embedded enough in the mainstream.
Again, because I believe that demand is not the problem with the Israeli audience.
Isn't science sexy? I do not think so.
I think that discoveries and inventions and achievements are published today endlessly.
They just do it unprofessionally, and give you the feeling that it's "strange scientists".
Shabbat Shalom,
Amit.
Amitos
I apologize in advance but what you wrote reminded me of Curiosity, not so related to the discussion above but still entertaining.
The curiosity is related to the commentators and their credibility. Like you, I'm not a sports fan either (not as a viewer). One day I decided to expand my horizons and watch the World Cup final (or something like that) in soccer
In the first minutes of the game, the commentator said that this is a final game, so there is no chance of goals in the first part of the game where the two teams learn each other. Less than a few minutes passed and 3 goals were already scored on the field. A real commentator would apologize and say "I guess I don't understand anything about football, I'm sorry, viewers, and I intend to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the game" but not like that... the commentator just continued as if nothing had happened and said "well it was expected..."
Regarding science and communication, Roy described it better than me. Being interested in sports does not require expertise, and even a layman can enjoy watching sports. Economics, on the other hand, is important to all of us, so the interest in it is many, even if it requires the study of some concepts.
Science today is no longer sexy and I don't understand why. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Einstein gained world fame even without or because his theories were not clear to most people. It is possible that science represented hope for humanity by solving its ills and being a substitute for religion and people saw the First and Second World War as disappointments that science would bring peace and march humanity forward. In any case today, when science requires more and more financial resources, it is necessary to explain to the public what it is researching and why it is necessary. By the way, mathematics almost never gets the headlines, but most mathematicians are also not interested in contact with the general public (which is possible since they do not need large budgets).
Amitos,
Sports is a relatively simple subject. You need to know what the different leagues mean and what the role of each player (brake, goalkeeper, etc.) in the team, and everything else is self-explanatory.
Economics is another subject that is not necessarily simple, but can be understood by knowing the various abbreviations. For a large number of people in Western society, the economics section is understood at a basic level because it is immediately important to their lives: what happened to their stock in the stock market? Should they withdraw the money from the bank before the interest rate falls further?
Science, on the other hand, differs from both sports and economics in two important points:
1. It is not immediate in its effects, therefore much less people bother to be interested and understand the basic concepts.
2. There is no such thing as 'science'. There are dozens of different types of science, and each of them has formulations, phrases and terms that look like ordinary Chinese to all other scientists. Personally, as a PhD student in nanotechnology and an amateur science writer, I can hardly understand most of the physics and chemistry papers that are published, or even the biology papers that are not in my narrow field. I have to go through articles like this again and again so that the message gets into my head, if at all. What do you think the result will be if the public without scientific education receives such articles?
I, like you, do not believe that science is an ethereal and complicated world. Each group of scientists in a certain field sees things in a simple and interesting way. The problem is getting them to convey this simplicity to the general public. If someone manages to do this - for example by using humor, simplifying terms and metaphors - then this is only for the better.
Shabbat Shalom,
Roy.
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my new blog - Another science
Ehud, I will give you a receipt:
Why is it that when they talk about the economy, they talk to us in professional language,
(Sorry, what is this GDP and how does it affect me?)
But in science do you have to explain like to children?
("We also need to do other things - digest, breathe, hit, shout, get angry.")
And another example - sports.
I think that just as there is a broad public that is interested in football (and I am not) and there are sports supplements for them,
So this is how you can speak in scientific "Chinese" to the general public who is interested in scientific discoveries.
I am sure that in Israel, such a high-tech society, there is more than enough public that would be interested if they were spoken to at eye level.
And if he doesn't understand, then he will ask and become more interested. Like any XNUMXth grader learning to read a newspaper commentary of last night's game. Woe to us if we take care to adjust ourselves to the low level. on the contrary.
The "general public" is not an idiot, it is simply degenerate from challenges.
Stop treating everyone like a bunch of idiots and that will give us room to be interested in ourselves.
Those who choose not to be interested - should not read about science. Like I don't read about sports.
In today's situation there is really no choice: science is an ethereal and too complicated world - none of your business.
Like articles that are in newspapers about all kinds of research. It is clear that the writer has no idea what he is writing about.
Why send such ignorant reporters to such worlds? Do you want me to explain a football game for you?
Does anyone really think that there is a lack of a broad audience in Israel that is interested in science?
I don't see anything wrong with the questions asked by the journalists at the press conference.
In my opinion there are many reasons why the public is not interested in science and scientists some of them are inherently related to science and some of them are related to the media.
1. It is difficult to convey to the general public the excitement of scientific work. Scientific work is often Sisyphean and long and its fruits ripen years later, the public needs faster gratification and therefore identifies with prizes more than with science itself.
2. Understanding scientific questions involves knowledge and study, and even an educated person is sometimes afraid to ask questions that will reveal his ignorance in the scientific world, which tends to be very strict and precise in its approach.
3. The society of scientists is a closed and elitist society that has no communication with the general public and is mostly not interested in such communication. In my opinion today when scientists need wider funding to model huge accelerators, satellite telescopes and expensive research laboratories they will have to turn more and more to the general public for support and backing.
In the context of the reporters' questions at the press conference, they wanted to convey to the public the feelings of the scientist, who is the man behind the award, things with which the general public could identify. From such a place come the questions about the feeling of receiving the award or what motivates a researcher to go against the majority position.
In addition to all of this, Israeli society is a very materialistic society and only when someone receives a lot of money for his achievements/work does he also receive public appreciation...
Avi,
Why not, actually? It actually sounds like a good way to spread some scientific innovations. The problem is that I'm not at all sure that enough people will agree to pay five shekels a day for the service...
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my new blog - Another science
Amitos, you shouldn't know how much a site that deals with science earns (loses), in a country that has 9 Nobel laureates. Usually two and a half reporters come to scientific press conferences, and yesterday it was impossible to move in the hall where the press conference was held, and I am convinced that most of the journalists did not know whether ribosomes write from right to left or from top to bottom, and they receive a monthly salary identical to the income (not profit) of the website for the year.
post Scriptum. I refuse for ideological reasons to sell information for NIS 5 per SMS like astrologers do, those who enter their list do not leave it and continue to be charged NIS 5 per day.
It's a shame that the reporters ask such banal and unrelated questions.
Just this morning, on the radio, Shay and Dror called Prof. Aharonov, and then Prof. Yonat.
Then an intellectual man answers them to all the questions with the utmost respect and seriousness,
And in the background you hear the gentle music of the drums and the trumpet, to remind you that this is a skit...
It was really entertaining. Little by little Shay and Dror realized that the satire they were trying to run on the dignitaries
Not working, and it turned into a routine and friendly interview.
Suddenly everyone becomes a science buff when a prize arrives.
As if you could prepare for the Nobel Prize. As if it's an achievement test for XNUMXth graders.
It is also easy to bet that it will affect the demand for chemistry studies.
After all, the young Israeli doesn't really know what specifically interests him...
What matters is what is considered interesting.
And here today, chemistry is interesting.
This is an advertisement in Google's mechanism, but regardless, no advertisement should hide any article. I would like to know which browser it is in order to see if the problem can be solved.
Shame that the advertisement of the miracle back hides the article from this?