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 | 21 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Nobel Prize winner leaving UC Berkeley for new role in China

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

Comments

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This move is nothing more than a political dissent.

#1 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-07-11 12:00 PM | Reply | Funny: 3

"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 | Newsworthy 2

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 | Newsworthy 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 | Newsworthy 1

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 | Newsworthy 1

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 | Newsworthy 1

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 | Newsworthy 1

Or your mom's house.

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

LOL... It won't be long until China is using us for cheap labor.

#12 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2026-07-11 04:06 PM | Reply

We were supposed to be draining the swamp of those that don't serve and only take, ie ineffective politicians
But what we have done instead is fire our brightest and now our best and brightest talents are leaving the US because they are NOT APPRECIATED NOR VALUED
May they find happiness in their job, home and life,

#13 | Posted by gypsydiane8177 at 2026-07-12 07:32 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

More and more Americans are sending their children to school overseas, moving to Europe or other English-speaking countries, or renouncing their US citizenships ouright.

And USSECSTATE Marco Rubella recently lowered the exorbitant fees for official citizenship renunciation.

Who the heck wants to live in Gehenna thanks to Weimar Republic 2.0 that lost its incumbency over Israel?

Source: Brain and Capital Drain from US Increasing

#14 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-07-12 07:43 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

#4 | Posted by Effeteposer

I have moral and ethical objections to it but as someone working with AI daily, you are an idiot. Pull your head out of the sand.

I too was a skeptic for a long time but the writing was on the wall - it was coming. The advances in the past year are amazing. My lead developer uses AI to turn out projects literally at a 10x pace. The others using it are at least 5 times as effective. Today it is a powerful tool. Anthropic's Mythos is the beginning of the next phase. In two or three years...

#15 | Posted by GalaxiePete at 2026-07-12 11:02 AM | Reply

"What is Claude Mythos and what risks does it pose?"

www.bbc.com

#16 | Posted by Corky at 2026-07-12 11:09 AM | Reply

2084 and the AI Revolution

www.youtube.com

(title is an Orwell reference, not a predictive date)

#17 | Posted by Corky at 2026-07-12 11:31 AM | Reply

AI revolution, Corky?

I'm barely surviving with my XP computer!

Now, what patch do I apply today? Let's see....

#18 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-07-12 11:53 AM | Reply

- my XP computer!