“Discovery can change the world”
Captivated by the beauty of molecules and driven by curiosity and the prospect of making a real impact on society, Omar Yaghi, a chemist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry after 35 years of research on the development of metal-organic frameworks.
November 27, 2025
Born to Palestinian parents, Omar Yaghi was raised in Amman, Jordan – one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, where when he was a child water would flow only once every two weeks for just a few hours. From a young age, he was deeply curious and enjoyed studying. One day, while in a library, he came across drawings of molecules and was instantly captivated by them, he describes.
“I thought they were intriguing. I didn’t know there were molecular drawings, and that got me very interested. From that moment, I couldn’t imagine studying anything else other than chemistry,” Omar Yaghi says.
“I was captivated by the beauty of crystals during organic chemistry classes. There was something deeply appealing about them, their symmetry, their structure. That sense of beauty was what first drew me in. I wanted to study beautiful things, and I wanted to create beautiful things,” he adds.
Later on, when Yaghi and his research team developed metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), the question about how these structures could make a real impact on society naturally arose. That question guided the direction of his subsequent research, he says.
MOFs are like rooms in a hotel
MOFs are structures with an incredible storage capacity. Just one gram of MOFs could have a surface area roughly the size of a soccer field.
“MOFs are basically networks in which metals are connected by linkers to make what the Nobel Committee call “rooms for other molecules to reside in”. So, they’re like rooms in a hotel. The interesting thing about this chemistry is that one can vary the size of the room to fit the molecule that one wants to trap,” Yaghi describes.
“What’s fascinating about this chemistry is that it can be done by design and with remarkable precision, right down to the atomic and molecular level. Once you’ve built your ‘molecular hotel,’ you can even modify the interiors of its molecular rooms to create a material tailored for a specific property. The ability to match structure to function, and function to structure, is incredibly powerful,” he points out.
My passion is to make these devices available to everyone, especially people in remote villages and underserved areas, since clean water is a basic human right. Over time, as demand grows and technology advances, the devices will become more affordable, much like smartphones did.
MOFs can be configured into devices to harvest water from the air and turn it into drinkable water. These devices are soon going to be commercialized and will be valuable not only in arid regions but also in areas where water is abundant yet might be contaminated. They produce clean, mineralized water suitable for drinking, and can also be used for agriculture, hygiene, and household needs. MOFs will give people water independence and control over their own supply. The water is harvested directly from the air, not piped in from a city system, ensuring consistent quality and always providing safe, drinkable water.
“My passion is to make these devices available to everyone, especially people in remote villages and underserved areas, since clean water is a basic human right. Over time, as demand grows and technology advances, the devices will become more affordable, much like smartphones did,” says Yaghi.
Passion to move forward
Omar Yaghi emphasizes the importance of doing what we truly love, because when challenges arise, passion is what keeps us moving forward and striving to be our best.
“Finding what we love is how we truly contribute to the world,” he says. And he adds, “I think one of the best ways to discover your passion is to think deeply about the world around you. Curiosity is what leads us to find what truly inspires us.”
Asking important questions is the key to making any meaningful scientific contribution, he tells his students. They often ask him, “Professor, how do I know what an important question is?” And he replies, “The easiest way is to look around and listen carefully to what people are saying doesn’t work and that should be challenging and interesting to research.”
Yaghi is motivated by discovery and loves constantly doing and exploring new things. “There’s nothing more exciting than going to the lab and anticipating that a discovery might be made,” he says. And also mentoring students and guiding them, he adds. “I like to watch as they discover that they are far more capable than they ever imagined. Seeing them grow and push beyond their own expectations inspires me every day.”
Every experiment is a chance for discovery, and discovery can change the world. That’s how you grow, succeed, and make a real impact on society.
He is driven by the curiosity of young students who have written him about the Nobel Prize or about harvesting water from the air, and he says to the parents, “Give children the freedom to explore.”
Also, to young researchers he says, “Do the experiment. Don’t be afraid to try. Every experiment is a chance for discovery, and discovery can change the world. That’s how you grow, succeed, and make a real impact on society.”
The 5% rule
Yaghi has also learned to see value in criticism. The non-supportive people that he has encountered along his path which he calls the ‘naysayers’, who insist ‘this won’t work’, ‘this doesn’t make sense’, have helped him enhance his work and his thinking.
When the majority seems to criticize or doubt your work, there’s always a small minority, about 5%, who recognize its potential.
“While challenging, that feedback can also be constructive, but resilience and confidence in your approach is key to keep moving forward,” he asserts. And he has even come to believe in what he calls the 5% rule. “When the majority seems to criticize or doubt your work, there’s always a small minority, about 5%, who recognize its potential. They’ll speak up and say, ‘This is actually a promising idea,’ seeing what others overlook. That 5% is always there. You’ll never face total doubt; someone will always understand your vision and believe in it. I’ve seen this pattern repeatedly throughout my academic and research career.”
When Yaghi first developed MOFs, people in the chemistry community asked if that was really chemistry. Questioning whether what they were doing belonged to the field at all. While traditional chemistry has focused on discrete, individual molecules, Yaghi’s research group was building infinite, extended structures made from those same molecular components. In other words, they were taking chemistry in a completely new direction, one that went beyond the mainstream understanding at the time.
“To me, the Nobel Prize signifies that this approach, which we’ve been developing for more than 35 years, is now recognized as a credible and foundational part of the field. The Nobel Committee clearly felt that it provides benefit to humankind, and from an academic perspective, it affirms that this work has become an integral part of chemistry itself. It’s now part of the textbooks that future generations of students will study and build upon,” Yaghi says.
Not the end, not even the beginning of the end
Yaghi explains that winning the Nobel Prize is just the beginning, and that the three previous decades of research have only laid the foundation for this vast field they’ve created. For example, he and his colleagues have been working with covalent-organic frameworks (COFs), which are entirely organic structures. And now, they are exploring even more possibilities, such as using AI to accelerate discoveries and transform chemistry in the laboratory.
He also has ideas about creating chemical structures that function like DNA. Systems that operate based on sequences of chemical information embedded within their structures, leading to highly specific and programmable properties.
There’s so much to do, I am incredibly excited about the future. I look forward to many more years of research and discovery.
“These concepts open entirely new frontiers up to us, and who knows, we may yet discover things even greater than what we’ve achieved so far,” he shares.
“The Nobel Prize has motivated me more than ever,” concludes Yaghi. There’s so much to do, I am incredibly excited about the future. I look forward to many more years of research and discovery. I truly feel this is only the beginning. As Winston Churchill said, ‘This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning’”.
about the author
Paula Pérez González-Anguiano, M.Sc. in Scientific, Medical and Environmental Communication, is a Biotechnologist, Science Journalist and Illustrator based in Barcelona, Spain.
Published: November 27, 2025
