Abstract: ]The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to two American scientists Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and the Israel female scientist Ada E. Yonath for their Xray diffraction analysis of the structure and function of ribosome. Their work showed the ribosome at atomic resolution and allowed the construction of a detailed threedimensional model of ribosome.The bacterial ribosome (70S) consists of a small (30S) and a large (50S) subunit. The 30S subunit is composed of 21 distinct proteins and a molecule of 16S rRNA. The 50S subunit is composed of 34 different proteins, a molecule of 23S rRNA and a molecule of 5S rRNA. The eukaryotic ribosomes are larger and more complex than those from prokaryotes. Various proteins synthesized in ribosomes in turn control the chemistry in all living organisms. As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for antibiotics and RIP.

Key words: ribosome, Xray crystallography, rRNA, antibiotics, RIP