Quotes

My kindergarten teacher encouraged me to learn, as did my school headmaster, who gave me a grant to study.

Words originating from the verb 'to die' were frequently used when I described my initial plans to determine the ribosome structure.

I'm always having to get rid of reporters.

I'm truly glad I've managed to get the public interested in questions about basic research.

My parents were Zionists born in Poland. My father was a rabbi who didn't know much about science and ran a grocery store in the neighborhood with my mother's help.

I wanted to reveal how genetic code is translated into protein. I knew a great application could be for antibiotics, since half of the useful ones target the ribosomes, but I didn't believe I could contribute to it. It was like the next Mount Everest to conquer. It was my dream to contribute something to humanity.

I don't distinguish between men and women. This is irrelevant to me, and I don't think in these terms.

My neighborhood didn't really encourage women, though it didn't prevent women from progressing, either.

From the age of 11, I was cleaning floors, washing dishes, making sandwiches and being a cashier. Survival was the name of the game. Life was so hard that I had to struggle to keep up my standards. Under these conditions, I didn't think about science too much.

There are over 7,000 different types of proteins in typical eukaryotic cells; the total number depends on the cell class and function.

Many ribosomes act simultaneously along the mRNA, forming superstructures called polysomes.

People are obsessed with my haircut; everyone wants to do something with my hair before the ceremony. Very senior figures tell me their hairstylist wants to do my hair for free. It's surprising. People from television are interested almost exclusively in aspects of my hair and my hairdresser.

Proteins are constantly being degraded. Therefore, simultaneous production of proteins is required.

Even if I tried to fill up the stadium in Ramat Gan, I don't think I could.

I was born in Jerusalem in 1939 to a poor family that shared a rented four-room apartment with two additional families and their children.

The ribosome is a machine that gets instructions from the genetic code and operates chemically in order to produce the product.

During my time I had some very difficult years, and I had very pronounced competition, all by men.

When a man sits in our jails for a number of years, and around him friends and family become angry, that is how we create terrorists.

The Weizmann Institute showed me respect and didn't require many administrative tasks, so I was quite independent. I did what I wanted.

DNA is a code of four letters; proteins are made up of amino acids which come in 20 forms. So the ribosome is a very clever machine that reads one language and operates in another.

The world was not supportive. They look at me as a joke for 13 to 14 years until I could prove feasibility; then I had competitors. Those that laughed at me became my competitors.

After I spent my compulsory army service in the 'top secret office' of the Medical Forces, where I was fortunate to be exposed to clinical and medical issues, I enrolled to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

For quite a while, I didn't receive a higher academic status. I didn't feel any discrimination against me as a woman scientist, but I hadn't produced a lot of science journal articles.

My memories from my childhood are centered on my father's medical conditions alongside my constant desire to understand the principles of the nature around me.

I'm blind without my glasses.