Nobel-Winning U.S. Chemist Moving to China to Lead AI Inst

Saturday, July 11, 2026

Omar Yaghi, an immigrant to the United States who shared last year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has left his faculty post at the University of California, Berkeley, for one in China ...

Posted by qcp at 08:30 AM | 11 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

Alternate links: Google News | Twitter

Nobel Prize winner leaving UC Berkeley for new role in China

[image or embed]
-- Los Angeles Times (@latimes.com) 1:42 PM Â· Jul 10, 2026

Comments

Admin's note: Participants in this discussion must follow the site's moderation policy. Profanity will be filtered. Abusive conduct is not allowed.

This move is nothing more than a political dissent.

#1 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-07-11 12:00 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

"This move is nothing more than a political dissent."

You think money/funding and other opportunities have nothing to do with it?

#2 | Posted by sentinel at 2026-07-11 12:18 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

First JPW now Omar, at this rate all the scientists will be gone.

#3 | Posted by fortfisher at 2026-07-11 12:19 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

AI is Stupid.

We got by forever without it.

Why is it SO IMPORTANT now?

It just wastes resources and creates nothing.

It's the "Gee Whiz" Technology of our Times.

In 500 years it won't be remembered, in fact, I doubt if everything after 1980 will be remembered.

Computer chips and Technology are Ephemeral compared to Rag paper and Oxidized Ink.

There will be a giant hole in the historical record.

When paper and ink return the record will resume.

The Renaissance and early modern eras will be more known and studied than the "Dark Age" of Computer Records.

Just Sayin'

#4 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2026-07-11 12:27 PM | Reply

Now we really need to build that wall (and have China pay for it!).

To keep Americans in now.

#5 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-11 12:29 PM | Reply

This move is nothing more than a political dissent.

#1 | Posted by lfthndthrds

Little tyke doesn't recognize a brain drain when he sees one.

#6 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-11 12:35 PM | Reply

We got by forever without it (AI)

#4 | Posted by Effeteposer

If it were as great as they say it is, it wouldn't have to try to force itself on me the way it does.

I talked to an AI when ordering a hot dog recently.

It was uncanny and unpleasant. I don't need my day ruined like that. No more hot dogs from that place.

#7 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-11 12:39 PM | Reply

You think money/funding and other opportunities have nothing to do with it?

#2 | Posted by sentinel at 2026-07-11 12:18 PM | Reply | Flag:

There have been funding cuts to areas of higher education, but I can't tell if any of that directly impacted what he was doing. Then there's the interview he did with NYT expressing his displeasure with Trump and his immigration policies.

#8 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-07-11 12:41 PM | Reply

Then this,

"Dr. Yaghi has longstanding ties with Tsinghua University. In 2022, the Beijing school appointed him as an honorary professor and in that role he closely followed its work in chemistry, materials science and related disciplines.

Now, on joining Tsinghua full time, Dr. Yaghi is being named as the head of a new A.I. institute for science research that will focus on the design and synthesis of new materials."

#9 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-07-11 12:44 PM | Reply

He better get out quick before he is declared a communist spy and deported to a prison in Uzbekybekystan or the Islamic Republic of Japan.

#10 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-11 12:54 PM | Reply

Or your mom's house.

#11 | Posted by fortfisher at 2026-07-11 02:06 PM | Reply | Funny: 1