Amman, October 8 (Petra) – President of the University of Jordan Nazir Obeidat congratulated Omar Yaghi, honourary professor at the Faculty of Science, for winning the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Yaghi, along with Professors Susumu Kitagawa and Richard Robson, has been awarded the prestigious prize for his pioneering work in developing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
According to the Nobel Committee, the laureates have created molecular structures with spacious internal cavities that allow the passage of gases and other chemicals.
These structures known as metal-organic frameworks have a wide range of applications, including water extraction from desert air, carbon dioxide capture, toxic gas storage and catalysing chemical reactions.
The Nobel citation emphasised that the breakthrough represents a new form of molecular architecture. In these frameworks, metal ions serve as nodes that link to long organic (carbon-based) molecules, forming crystals with large, porous cavities.
Yaghi was appointed as an honourary professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Jordan in 2023, in recognition of his globally significant scientific contributions.
The university's decision aligns with its strategic goal of attracting leading scientists and experts to share their knowledge and bridge the gap between academic research and the demands of the labour market and society.
A globally recognised leader in chemistry, Yaghi was ranked second among the world's most influential chemists by Thomson Reuters in 2011.
He currently serves as a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and is the founding director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute, which supports the creation of research centres in developing countries and provides opportunities for training young researchers.
His research spans the synthesis and structural analysis of organic and inorganic materials, with a special focus on crystalline materials.
He is widely regarded as a pioneer in the development of several groundbreaking materials, including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs).
The materials possess exceptionally high surface areas, enabling advanced applications such as hydrogen and methane storage and water harvesting in arid environments.
Yaghi has received numerous accolades throughout his career. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2019), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (2022) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2022).
The awards he has won include the Italian Chemical Society Medal (2004), the Materials Research Society Medal (2007), the American Chemical Society Award in Chemistry of Materials (2010), the King Faisal International Prize for Science (2015) and the Albert Einstein World Award of Science.
//Petra// AK
