Ada Yonath is a crystallographer whose genius revealed the structure of the ribosome—the cell's complex protein-making factory. For decades, scientists believed it was impossible to create crystals of the ribosome because of its size and instability. Yonath pioneered the use of 'cryo-crystallography,' cooling the crystals to near absolute zero to prevent them from disintegrating under X-rays. Her work resulted in a 3D map of the ribosome, showing exactly how it translates genetic code into proteins. This breakthrough has been vital for developing new antibiotics that target the ribosomes of harmful bacteria. In 2009, she became the first Israeli woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.