On October 8, 2025, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Prof. Omar M. Yaghi (University of California, Berkeley, USA), Prof. Susumu Kitagawa (Kyoto University, Japan), and Prof. Richard Robson (University of Melbourne, Australia) as the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs).
These frameworks represent a new type of molecular architecture characterized by large pores that allow molecules to move freely. Their applications have been groundbreaking, including harvesting water from desert air, capturing carbon dioxide, removing pollutants from water, and storing hydrogen.
Yaghi is a globally recognized Jordanian-American chemist. He currently serves as Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, an affiliate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute. In January 2025, he became the seventh President of the World Cultural Council and is also a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
In 2023, the University of Jordan (UJ) appointed Yaghi as an Honorary Professor in the Department of Chemistry, reflecting the University’s commitment to engaging world-class scholars whose research bridges scientific innovation with societal impact.
Throughout his distinguished career, Yaghi has received numerous international honors, including the Newcomb Cleveland Prize, Centenary Prize, King Faisal International Prize, Mustafa Prize, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, the ENI Award for Energy, the Gregori Aminoff Prize, the VinFuture Prize, the Wilhelm Exner Medal, the Tang Prize, the Balzan Prize, the Von Hippel Award, and now the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Yaghi’s pioneering work in designing and synthesizing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) continues to transform energy storage, water harvesting, and environmental chemistry, advancing global scientific knowledge and inspiring the next generation of researchers.
UJ's President and community congratulated Yaghi, on winning this prestigious international award.