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Rise From the Ashes

The rise of Omar M. Yaghi, a Muslim of Palestinian heritage, to the Nobel stage says as much about individual determination as it does about the institutions and ecosystems that can nurture talent

By Faisal Siddiqi | November 2025


Omar Mwannes Yaghi has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa, for the development of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of materials that can trap gases, harvest water from air, and help store clean fuels.

His story begins in Amman, Jordan, where he was born to Palestinian refugee parents who had fled Gaza. His parents were illiterate, and his family lived in cramped conditions with limited access to clean water and electricity. At about ten years old, a chance encounter with a picture of molecules in a library ignited a lifelong fascination with chemistry. He described that moment as transformative and awakened a deep fascination with chemistry. That curiosity, paired with grit and opportunity, took him from those modest beginnings to some of the world’s top laboratories and lecture halls.

Yaghi’s discovery—turned field—of reticular chemistry and MOFs changed how chemists think about designing materials. In plain terms, he showed how to build tiny, regular frameworks with enormous internal surface area that can be tuned for particular tasks: grabbing CO₂ from exhaust streams, pulling moisture from desert air into drinkable water, or storing gases such as hydrogen more safely and compactly. These practical uses help explain why his work has moved quickly from academic papers into real-world prototypes.

Academically, Yaghi has held leading positions across top institutions and currently serves as a University Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also helped found the Berkeley Global Science Institute. He is a member of prestigious academies and has received numerous international awards for his work, including the Wolf Prize, the Tang Prize (2024), and the Balzan Prize (2024), among others — a trajectory culminating this year in the Nobel.


Yaghi’s Nobel Prize also places him among a small but significant group of Muslim scientists and public figures who have won Nobel Prizes — a symbolic milestone with wide resonance. Names in that circle include Professor Abdus Salam, who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics; Ahmed Zewail, Nobel laureate in Chemistry (1999); Aziz Sancar, Nobel laureate in Chemistry (2015); and figures from other fields such as Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize, 2006), Malala Yousufzai (Nobel Peace Prize, 2014) and Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize, 2003). Yaghi now joins this distinguished union of scientists and leaders whose work crossed borders and faiths.

Why this matters now: Yaghi’s work addresses urgent and global problems. Climate change makes carbon removal technologies critical; water scarcity affects billions; and clean, practical energy storage is essential if societies are to move away from fossil fuels. MOFs are not a silver bullet but a powerful tool in a growing toolbox of solutions that could be scaled with investment and engineering.

There is a clear human lesson in his life. A Muslim of Palestinian heritage raised with almost no resources, Yaghi’s rise to the Nobel stage says as much about individual determination as it does about the institutions and ecosystems that can nurture talent. He has remarked that “science is the greatest equalising force in the world.” His path, which took him from a school library’s picture of molecules to founding companies aimed at helping communities, underscores that with curiosity, mentorship, and opportunity, talent can flourish no matter the starting line.

Beyond the lab, Yaghi has embraced entrepreneurship as a path to impact. In 2020, he founded Atoco, a California startup that aims to turn MOF and related materials into practical devices for atmospheric water harvesting and carbon capture — technologies designed to provide clean water and remove greenhouse gases where they are most needed. In 2021, he co-founded H2MOF, focusing on safe, efficient hydrogen storage, a key piece of clean-energy systems. These ventures reflect his belief that discoveries should translate into tools that serve society.

Therefore, Omar Yaghi’s Nobel Prize is both a scientific recognition and a symbolic story: a reminder that innovation can come from anyone, anywhere, and that bringing lab discoveries into society is as important as making them. In a world divided by origin or belief, his life offers a simple message of possibility — for students, scientists, and communities who still dream of changing the world.

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