A living hub for the people of Palestine — those who shaped it, and those who stood with it.

Suggest a profile
Portrait of Omar Yaghi

Photo: Christopher Michel · CC BY-SA 4.0

Omar Yaghi

Transformative Materials Chemistry

Born
9 February 1965
Born in
Amman, Jordan
Read Omar’s storyAsk about Omar

Why Omar is here

Founding Father of Reticular Chemistry

Their story

Omar Yaghi was born in Amman, Jordan, in 1965 to a family of Palestinian refugees, and moved to the United States at fifteen. He founded the field of reticular chemistry, building metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and other porous materials that can capture carbon dioxide and pull drinking water from desert air.

His work earned the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa, after the Wolf Prize and many other honours. He taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, and in 2026 moved to lead a new research institute at Tsinghua University.

Milestones

The moments that shaped Omar’s path.

  1. Earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990.

  2. Became an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2019.

  3. Received Saudi citizenship in 2021, honoring his contributions to science and his collaborative work in the Kingdom.

    Read more

  4. Won numerous prestigious awards, including the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2018 and the King Faisal International Prize in Science in 2015.

    Read more

  5. Co-founded H2MOF, focusing on the storage and generation of clean energy, showcasing his role as a leader in applying his research to real-world challenges.

    Read more

Legacy

What they built, changed and left behind.

  1. Development of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a new class of materials with vast applications in clean energy and environmental sustainability.

  2. Invention of Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) and Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs), expanding the possibilities of molecular architecture.

  3. Pioneering the field of Reticular Chemistry, which involves stitching molecular building blocks into extended structures by strong bonds.

  4. Significant advancements in water harvesting from air, especially in arid environments, providing a potential solution to global water scarcity.

    Read more

  5. Contributions to clean energy technologies, including hydrogen and methane storage, carbon dioxide capture, and conversion, through his groundbreaking materials.

Ask about Omar

Curious about something? An AI guide answers from Omar’s profile.

Omar’s guide AI

Answers come from Omar’s profile on this page. It isn’t Omar, and it can make mistakes.

What would you like to know about Omar?

Ask in your own words about Omar’s early life, work, the moments that shaped them, or their legacy. The guide answers only from this profile, so if something isn’t covered, it will tell you.

AI-generated from this profile. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an addition.

Further reading

Spot a mistake?

We check every correction against sources before we change a profile. Tell us what’s wrong with Omar’s story and, if you can, where you read it. How we check

Keep exploring

More faces from Science & Tech

All 15 in Science & Tech