A day after her passing: Prof. Ada Yonath revealed in a touching letter
Following the scientist's death at the age of 87, high-tech entrepreneur Etgar Spivak revealed a personal correspondence from 2021, in which Yonath responded to a request for a greeting for his young daughter who dreamed of doing research: "Curiosity is the most important trait"
Following the passing of Nobel laureate Prof. Ada Yonath, the web has been filled with numerous obituaries and official tributes to her work. However, among the many tributes, a small and personal story published on the X network managed to be particularly moving and to sketch the human and accessible figure of the great scientist, far from the walls of the laboratory.
Etgar Spivak, an entrepreneur and expert in analytics and data-driven marketing, shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp correspondence he had with Prof. Yonath in December 2021. His daughter, Raz, was about to celebrate her seventh birthday and already dreamed of being a scientist. Spivak decided to reach out to Yonath with a modest message:
"The girl's dream is to be a scientist and I would be happy to ask you for a short greeting."
He politely added that he would understand if the request was a bother, and thanked her for her time. Despite her status, Yonath did not ignore the request. A few hours later, she replied with a message that proves how much the mission to empower the next generation burned within her:
"Hello Raz, I heard that you dream of being a scientist. Well done. Are you ready to study seriously and dedicate your time to understand what is not yet explained? This is called curiosity, and curiosity is the most important trait of scientists. Happy birthday! Ada."
Spivak testified immediately that his daughter read the message and was very excited. In a post he published now, Spivak says goodbye to Yonath with words that resonate and summarize her legacy from a refreshing angle: "Thank you, Prof. Ada Yonath. For the inspiration and the path for dreaming girls. For the inspiration for my daughter."
As recalled, this past Monday, Prof. Ada Yonath passed away at the age of 87. Yonath is considered one of the most central and influential figures in the history of Israeli and international science, and is known as a trailblazer who deeply influenced modern medical research. Now, it turns out that her influence extended beyond the boundaries of academia and also touched the dreams of the scientists of the future.
