Prof. Ada Yonath and Studio Armadillo Menorah design

Prof. Ada Yonath received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009. Is this a personal achievement or a national one? Is her scientific ambitionprivate, or is it in fact a model for girls to follow en route towards women empowerment? The Education Committee of the Knesset chose to give Prof. Yonath a token of gratitude for her achievements: a Hanuka Menorah from the Communicating vessels series, designed by Studio Armadillo .

We were excited to receive an order for the Menorah from the Knesset. First, we were happy that a design of ours received recognition from the State of Israel for. Also, it is a great honor to have one of our contemporary Judaica designs given to Prof. Yonath, whose achievements and personality made her a role model.

The Chairperson of the Education Committee of the Knesset, MK Zevulun Orlev, saw the Menorah of our design while visiting the Judaica Twist exhibition in Beit Hatfutsot, where we've exhibited a series of contemporary Judaica that was inspired by the aesthetics of scientific laboratories. When MK Orlev saw the Menorah he immediately recognized the inherent link between art, science and Jewish tradition. For us, this was the greatest artistic achievement: our creation makes this link evident and self-explanatory.

Monday, February 1^st, 2010, was the 61^st birthday of the Knesset. On that day we traveled toJerusalem to take part in the ceremonial session the Education Committee held, to honor Prof. Ada Yonath. There we've heard so many fascinating tidbits of information, beginning with easy-to-understand explanations of complex scientific issues, mentions and links to the weekly Torah portion, fierce political statements regarding the deteriorating state of higher education and learning in Israel, and the status of women in the country, that, at times, it is unimaginable can be any worse.

During the session a short ceremony took place, in which Prof. Yonath was awarded with the menorah. MK Orlev described the item and its link to the occasion: “Hadas Kruk and Anat Stein, the designers of this menorah, find their inspiration for these works in various worlds of thought, that communicate with one another and blend together, to make a combination of different disciplines and points of view. In this menorah they combine traditional craftsmanship – an item of Judaica and the Mitzvah of lighting the Hanukah candles – with the practical world of science... this menorah transcends the spiritual world of religion to the rational world of science” (official records of the session).

We are happy that a work of our design was awarded to the first Israeli woman to receive the Nobel Prize.

The agenda of the meeting was made of the personal and political, private and social, aspects of the prize. Even though the road to winning the Nobel is utterly personal, the day after receiving it even the most modest and private person cannot help but become a political and a public symbol.

We've enjoyed hearing Aaron Chiechanover, Nobel Prize for Chemistry laureate from 2004, depict Prof. Yonath's road to the Nobel Prize as a marathon – the loneliness of the long distance runner vanishes abruptly once she arrives first at the finish line.

Prof. Mina Teicher, former Chief Scientist and presiding chairperson of the National Council for the Promotion of Women in Science and Technology, recalled how thrilled she was to hear of the first Israeli to receive the Nobel Prize, and later, the great joy she experienced as a mathematician when the first Israeli mathematician received the Nobel (in economics). Now, she exclaimed, she could not be happier with this prize awarded to Prof. Yonath. There is a great loss of potential inIsrael, she said, when girls refrain from choosing scientific studies. In this state of affairs, Prof. Yonath's achievement, with all the media attention it drew, makes her a role model for young women.

Prof. Michael Sela, former head of the Weizman Institute, said that in order to succeed one must exhibit persistence, optimism, a touch of luck and, of course, brilliant brains. He argued that in these circles there are obviously no anti-Semitism and discrimination, because seven Nobel Prizes to a state of seven million inhabitants is relatively much more than countries like France and the US can take pride for. Sela revealed that the first five female professors at the Institute were his students. “I was a renowned feminist” he concluded.

MK Tzipi Hotobeli quoted that among more than 800 Nobel laureates, only 41 women can be found, despite the fact that most doctoral candidates are women. She asked Prof. Yonath what are the obstacles women face in the field of academics.

Prof. Ada Yonath replied simply: “I have done no research on the issue, so I can relate only to what I have seen for myself. Young women come to me and ask me if a woman can even dream of succeeding in this realm of life. The notion that girls don't need to go into science comes from upbringing, from a general point of view. I try to make a dent in this universe, change this perception. Here, now I receive letters from girls in the third grade. A second-grader even wrote a paper about me”...