Omar M. Yaghi, a Palestinian-American from a family of Palestinian refugees, wins the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Professor Omar M. Yaghi, a Palestinian-American from a family of Palestinian refugees, for his revolutionary work on metal-organic structures (MOFs), materials capable of capturing carbon dioxide, storing gases or even producing water from desert air. Born in Jordan to Palestinian parents before pursuing a brilliant scientific career in the United States, Omar Yaghi now teaches at the University of California at Berkeley. He shares this distinction with Susumu Kitagawa (Kyoto University) and Richard Robson (University of Melbourne).

Already awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Science in 2015, Yaghi is today recognized for his major contributions to modern chemistry and his pioneering role in the development of new materials capable of meeting the environmental challenges of the 21st century. Beyond his discoveries, Omar Yaghi embodies a humanist vision of science, focused on public utility and the preservation of living things. His journey, marked by rigor and modesty, illustrates how scientific excellence can be guided by the quest for meaning, ethics and the common good.