The science of medicine changed tremendously with the discovery of DNA. Armed with a better understanding of the mechanical underpinnings of human body, physicians were able to understand specific diseases as breakdowns in the mechanics, and develop medicines accordingly. The biggest breakthroughs in medicine now come from work that further illuminates the relationship between DNA and the various structures in the human body. Such was the case with with winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for chemistry in 2009.

On this day, October 7, in 2009, the scientific team of Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, United Kingdom, Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University, and Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for chemistry.

The trio conducted a series of studies of ribosomes, the buildings blocks of life. If DNA is the “blueprint” according to which the various structures of organisms are formed and function, then ribosomes are the builders that create those structures from DNA blueprints. The team developed three-dimensional models of the ribosomes of harmful bacteria, helping drugmakers to develop new medicines that bind to those ribosomes and effectively destroy it.