Palestinian from Jordan refugee camp wins Nobel Prize 2025, know about Omar Yaghi from Gaza Strip

On the day when Palestinian militant outfit Hamas and Israeli government agreed on a ceasefire to bring the two-year-long war in Gaza to an end after the killing of more than 67,000 Gazans and 1,200 Jews, one more important piece of news hit the headlines. The son of Palestinian refugees from the village of Al-Masmiyya in Gaza won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He shares the world's most prestigious award and the 11 million Swedish Kroner prize money with Susumu Kitagawa of Japan and Richard Robson of Australia. 

Life at Palestinian refugee camp

Yaghi is the James and Neeltje Tretter Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley, but his parents could barely read and write. He and other members of his family lived in a single room shared with livestock. Drinking water was a luxury in the refugee camp. If Yaghi didn't rise at dawn to open the taps, his family and their cow would go without water. Water would be supplied in Yaghi's neighbourhood for a few hours once every 14 days. 

(Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan)

The road from the refugee camp in Jordan to the pinnacle of scientific achievement wasn't simple or straight. It was torturous, painful, and full of disturbances and detours. He started from scratch in a true sense with nothing at hand, no books, no papers, no study materials, no privilege, and no running water for most days. There was no one to help with homework because the parents could barely read it themselves.

Omar Yaghi gets Nobel Prize

In the first interview after the announcement of the Nobel Prize, Yaghi said, "Science is a great equalising force in the world." He added, "I set out to build beautiful things and solve intellectual problems." Summing up his struggle and the philosophy of life, the Nobel Laureate for Chemistry said, "The deeper you dig, the more beautifully you find things are constructed."

The boy from the refugee camp of Jordan worked on the metal organic framework and its porosity. He believed these are mostly space, which makes them incredibly light yet structurally stable. He also discovered that the space can be designed to trap specific molecules, toxic gases, carbon dioxide, and water vapour. He got the Nobel Prize 2025 for this simple thing!