Dubai: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Monday congratulated Jordanian scientist Omar Yaghi, a world-renowned chemist and professor of chemistry on winning the ‘Great Arab Minds’ Award in natural sciences.
On his X account, Sheikh Mohammed said: “We congratulate Jordanian chemistry professor Omar Yaghi on winning the ‘Great Arab Minds’ Award in the Natural Sciences category for 2024. Professor Yaghi, a Chemistry Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has made exceptional contributions to the field of reticular chemistry. His groundbreaking innovations have led to pioneering applications addressing critical challenges in energy, water, and the environment.”
Sheikh Mohammed added: “Yaghi has published more than 300 scientific papers, and his work has garnered over 250,000 scientific citations. We congratulate him on this remarkable scientific achievement and affirm that our region is abundant with minds capable of making significant contributions to human knowledge in numerous fields.”
Great Arab Minds
The Great Arab Minds initiative honours exceptional Arab individuals whose remarkable achievements have helped drive progress and enrich knowledge both within the Arab world and globally.
Heralded as the ‘Arab Nobel Prize’ for its singular efforts to recognise Arabs who have made extraordinary contributions to humanity, the initiative aims to reignite the Arab world’s remarkable spirit of scientific enquiry and leadership in such quests throughout history.
Under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the UAE recently launched the second edition of the Great Arab Minds initiative.
The awards’ six categories encompass medicine, engineering and technology, economics, natural sciences, architecture and design, and literature and arts.
