UC Berkeley professor Omar Yaghi, a Jordanian immigrant molded by the American public school system, reached the pinnacle of his field on Wednesday, sharing the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
After receiving the award for his work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which have incalculable applications, Yaghi acknowledged the role his American education played in the realization of his work at a press conference.
“This recognition is really a testament of the power of the public school system in the U.S. that takes people like me — with a major disadvantaged background, a refugee background — and allows you to work hard and distinguish yourself,” Yaghi said. “Especially UC Berkeley, where the faculty are given full freedom to explore, fail and succeed.”
Yaghi’s discoveries with MOFs – along with co-winners Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan – have broad implications for emerging technologies such as water capture from desert winds, toxic gas containment and carbon sequestration from the atmosphere.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in its announcement, lauded the MOF breakthroughs for their ability to craft customizable materials with applications across the scientific field. Yaghi built on Robson and Kitagawa’s discoveries by creating a stable MOF that could be modified to have new properties: Imagine a porous filter programmed to selectively remove any atom or molecule at the command of a scientist.
Since the trio’s discoveries, “chemists have built tens of thousands of different MOFs,” the academy wrote in its award announcement, noting that some may be key to solving humanity’s greatest challenges.
“Metal–organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions,” said Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
On Wednesday, Yaghi spoke with reporters via Zoom from Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the award. He described the moment he was exiting a plane in Frankfurt, Germany, when his phone buzzed with a call from Sweden. On the line was the secretary of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry with the news that he had won.
“It was absolutely thrilling. You cannot prepare for a moment like that,” Yaghi said. “Since then, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing, buzzing, receiving emails, hundreds and hundreds of emails. I have no idea how I’m going to respond to all of them.”
Yaghi said his two biggest influences were his father and his Ph.D. adviser, Walter Klemperer, who each pushed him to challenge the status quo and accept failure as an inevitable part of progress, and also instilled in him his belief in the power of the experiment. His father’s belief in Yaghi’s academic potential pushed him to send his son alone to Troy, New York for school.
“That takes incredible commitment … We didn’t have a lot of the conveniences that many others do, but we had a lot of love and a lot of care,” Yaghi said. “I’m quite emotional to see my refugee parents spend every minute of their time dedicated to their kids and to their kids’ education, because they saw that as a way to lift themselves and their kids out of challenging situations.”
Yaghi addressed the challenges facing the scientific community as President Donald Trump’s administration cuts funding for research and discovery. Public funding from his first grant from the National Science Foundation was crucial to securing the resources and funding that laid the foundation for his research, he said. The grant allowed Yaghi to take creative risks and explore new directions in chemistry, ultimately leading to the discoveries that earned him the Nobel Prize.
The Jordanian refugee turned Nobel Prize winner said that scientists face a “crisis of our times” today as public support for science fades. He called on scientists to renew their historical commitment to the pursuit of knowledge, exploring the frontiers of science without fear. Only when scientists can explore their curiosities, he said, does that lead to building the industries of tomorrow, improving public health and securing the future.
“Science is an absolute essential part of an enlightened society and building a robust society that improves the quality of life for its people,” Yaghi said. “Our science is a jewel in the crown of our country, so we cannot allow that to slip.”