Ciechanover

Ciechanover is a surname of Jewish-Polish origin derived from the town of Ciechanów in present-day Poland. The name indicates origin from that locality and is borne by people whose ancestors came from there, many of whom later migrated to Israel or other destinations. The Polish town of Ciechanów is located in the Masovian Voivodeship and has a long history, including a historic Jewish community prior to World War II.

Notable bearers of the name include Aaron Ciechanover (born 1947), an Israeli biochemist and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate. In 2004 he shared the Nobel Prize with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose for the discovery of the ubiquitin-proteasome system, the cellular mechanism for protein degradation. Ciechanover has been a professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and has contributed to research in molecular biology and biochemistry.

The surname Ciechanover remains relatively uncommon; its recognition today largely derives from Aaron Ciechanover’s Nobel Prize and scientific contributions. The name is a toponymic surname derived from Ciechanów, and variants may occur in transliterations from Polish or Hebrew.