Nobel-Winning US Chemist Will Move to China to Lead AI Institute (nytimes.com) 48
Nobel-winning chemist Omar Yaghi is leaving UC Berkeley for China's Tsinghua University, where he will lead a new AI institute focused on accelerating the discovery of advanced materials. "Last week, Tsinghua University in Beijing welcomed Dr. Yaghi in an appointment ceremony, calling him one of the world's foremost chemists," reports The New York Times. "The university said he saw his new post as an opportunity 'not to slow down, not to repeat what has already been done, but to do science with more energy, more intensity, and more ambition than ever before.'" From the report: Dr. Yaghi was born in Amman, Jordan, to Palestinian refugees whose one-room home lacked electricity and running water. Early on, he became fascinated with a schoolbook's depiction of atomic building blocks. When he was 15, his father, a butcher, sent him to the United States. Last year, before flying to Stockholm to receive his Nobel Prize, Dr. Yaghi in an interview with The New York Times voiced concern about Mr. Trump's immigration policies, saying that they endanger the nation's system of universities, companies and governments that promote scientific excellence. "I think it's regrettable," he said of Mr. Trump's nationalism. "We have to know that people coming from different backgrounds improve the level for everybody involved," he added. "That's an amazing story. Great thinkers can improve not only the U.S. but the world."
Dr. Yaghi joined the University of California, Berkeley, in 2012, and while there earned many awards for his scientific advances. He received his Nobel Prize for helping discover a world of chemistry in which molecular building blocks are assembled into structures that possess vast internal surface areas -- the largest of any known substance. His porous structures can act like sponges that readily absorb, store and release gases and vapors. He named them metal-organic frameworks. The metal atoms form an adjustable framework that can hold chemicals associated with life -- carbon atoms in particular. While deeply theoretical, the frameworks are so radical, innovative and flexible in nature that materials experts and companies foresee many commercial uses for them. The frameworks can, for instance, harvest water from desert air. In 2018, Dr. Yaghi's students at Berkeley tested the idea in the Mojave Desert in California, finding that a small passive harvester could each day produce nearly three cups of pure, drinkable water. The device is now nearing commercialization.
In the interview with The Times, Dr. Yaghi credited the invention to his boyhood efforts to secure water for his family. The municipal pipes worked for only a few hours every week or two. That hardship, he added, shows how the diverse experiences of emigres can lead to unexpected breakthroughs. 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. Its underlying aim, the university said, is to "overcome the efficiency bottlenecks of traditional trial-and-error approaches" and shorten the usual cycles of discovery.
Dr. Yaghi joined the University of California, Berkeley, in 2012, and while there earned many awards for his scientific advances. He received his Nobel Prize for helping discover a world of chemistry in which molecular building blocks are assembled into structures that possess vast internal surface areas -- the largest of any known substance. His porous structures can act like sponges that readily absorb, store and release gases and vapors. He named them metal-organic frameworks. The metal atoms form an adjustable framework that can hold chemicals associated with life -- carbon atoms in particular. While deeply theoretical, the frameworks are so radical, innovative and flexible in nature that materials experts and companies foresee many commercial uses for them. The frameworks can, for instance, harvest water from desert air. In 2018, Dr. Yaghi's students at Berkeley tested the idea in the Mojave Desert in California, finding that a small passive harvester could each day produce nearly three cups of pure, drinkable water. The device is now nearing commercialization.
In the interview with The Times, Dr. Yaghi credited the invention to his boyhood efforts to secure water for his family. The municipal pipes worked for only a few hours every week or two. That hardship, he added, shows how the diverse experiences of emigres can lead to unexpected breakthroughs. 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. Its underlying aim, the university said, is to "overcome the efficiency bottlenecks of traditional trial-and-error approaches" and shorten the usual cycles of discovery.
Great (Score:3, Insightful)
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Given the way the Han Chinese treat the Uyghurs, dimko is right on point.
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the 2026 median republican voter everybody. this is what they have left.
Good for him (Score:4, Interesting)
No point staying in a place that doesn't want you.
The dumbing down continues unabated.
Re:Good for him (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed. People like this guy want to work on discoveries, not to fight political battles.
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China is currently doing capitalism better than the USA.
Re: Good for him (Score:1)
By which you mean they disappear their treehuggers instead of indulging them so that nothing can get built without lots of delays and legalized bribes (read: donations to environmental groups)?
Sorry guy. The graft over there is omnipresent. Red envelopes stuffed with cash are a form of life. To the point of you best have one to give to the doctors if you or your relative is hospitalized.
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"so that nothing can get built without lots of delays and legalized bribes (read: donations to environmental groups)"
Evidence? or are you are just running off at the mouth? If you want to see graft on an industrial scale, look no further than the alleged administration which has turned the executive branch into protection racket.
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So I can pay the doctors directly instead of the insurance company?
Re: Good for him (Score:1)
If that's how you want to think about it, sure.
At some point I suppose you'll come to the realization that concierge medical services are all fine and dandy if you're a one-percenter, but don't really scale very well.
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As of a few years ago, most of China's GDP was dedicated to things like Thousand Talents and wooing foreign talent to their shores.
Re: Good for him (Score:1)
It (might) make sense for him because they will (probably) treat him very well, despite being more authoritarian (and evil) in general. This also makes sense if he prioritizes career over politics.
Re:Good for him (Score:5, Insightful)
Are we great again yet?
Ok Ok low effort reply there but truthfully this is a direct example of brain drain due to an administration that is downright hostile to science. We used to be the envy of the world in terms of our research institutions and science.
The more the nationalists try and keep others out and the more they make science into a political point the more folks are going to just give up on America.... and I don't blame them. If I had any "in" elsewhere (family history, available opportunity) I'd leave
Sorry in truth I really wish they hadn't made science and education and many peoples very humanity and human rights political...
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I never thought about gay or trans people until a certain political group started talking about them non stop.
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Just ignore and move on. People like him(Vomitgod) have no interest in an honest discussion. They are beholden to their gods.
Re:Good for him (Score:4, Insightful)
The MAGA crowd thinks this is a good thing because it's hurting someone else.
Until of course it directly affects them and they might go as far as blaming the orange turd. But the last question you should ask them is given the chance would they vote the same way again?
You know what the answer will be.
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The problem the Maggots will refuse to see the damage done by scientists' refusals to come the U.S. (in addition to the ones that leave) given the xenophobic attitude of the Maggots.
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No point staying in a place that doesn't want you.
The dumbing down continues unabated.
Bummer, too, because his work on metal organic frameworks would have been perfect for extracting electrolytes. It's what plants crave.
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Bummer, too, because his work on metal organic frameworks would have been perfect for extracting electrolytes. It's what plants crave.
it will still be if it flourishes in china instead of in the us and the whole world, including the us, might still benefit from that knowledge. that "bummer" is just ideological ... which is all politics in the west seems to be about these days because objective reality doesn't make for a sellable story.
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it will still be if it flourishes in china instead of in the us and the whole world, including the us, might still benefit from that knowledge. that "bummer" is just ideological ... which is all politics in the west seems to be about these days because objective reality doesn't make for a sellable story.
I don't think it's too rabidly nationalistic or ideological of me to say that I'd prefer such discoveries and technologies be developed in my own country, rather than importing them from China. From a scientific standpoint, I agree that the knowledge benefits everyone, no matter where the discoveries are made. But from the standpoint of economics and national security, every key technology that we have to import from a strategic rival is a potential liability.
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No point staying in a place that doesn't want you.
I find no mention of him being unwanted.
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you seem to miss metaphors too.
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No point staying in a place that doesn't want you.
I find no mention of him being unwanted.
FTS: "Dr. Yaghi was born in Amman, Jordan, to Palestinian refugees whose one-room home lacked electricity and running water ...When he was 15, his father, a butcher, sent him to the United States".
Trump has expressed disdain for all sorts of immigrants - including legal ones - and ICE has detained and deported even US citizens because they "don't look right" to the knuckle-dragging MAGA crowd. And then there's the USA's funding and arming of Israel's genocide in Palestine.
So why should the Palestinian immi
I want to say for the sake of freedom but... (Score:2)
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Unless of course you went full lefty-loon-woke in the last decade and went on record that according to science chicks can have dicks and dudes can (and should!) wear dresses.
Then I suppose we're occupied france, the gulags, and the cambodian killing fields all rolled into one.
10AM EST and you're talking about "chicks with dicks" in a discussion about academic research? I really don't understand the obsession.
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They are secretly drawn to that sort of thing, but don't want to admit it to themselves. The moment they see it, their desire goes in a direction that they don't like to admit is there, and they freak out. So, don't show it so they can stay in the closet is their true reason.
Re: Why (Score:1)
Idunno dude. It's just so fucking egregious it tends to come to front of mind when many of those same academics complain about politics interfering with dispassionate pursuit of truth.
The hypocrisy is strong, and it is worth remembering.
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Is the US no longer a good place for doing research?
Do you really need to ask?
You might want to move that rock you're living under to someplace where at least a little light seeps in around the edges.
Re:Why (Score:4, Interesting)
The republican party cares more about grabbing power than helping people or making things better.
Given that they control all 3 branches of government, can any MAGA fans list legislation that has helped anymore?
Lower grocery prices?
Lower fuel costs?
Job creation?
Inflation?
Federal deficit?
Healthcare?
Education?
I'll check back if anyone can think of anything.
Trump will arrest him if he comes back into U.S. (Score:2)
The USA is not welcoming of foreigners (Score:4, Interesting)
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As a visitor, I've had random Americans yell death threats at me on the street. Never had that happen living or working as a foreigner in China. Do you have any actual experience or are you just parroting the domestic propaganda you've been brought up on?
Re: The USA is not welcoming of foreigners (Score:2)
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US intentional homicide rate is 5.763 per 100,000 population. That's considerably higher than the wild west known as the Philippines at 4.348, and Liberia at 3.087. It's more than five times Scotland at 1.038, Germany at 0.911 and Australia at 0.854. It's over ten times Northern Ireland at 0.521, and twenty times Japan at 0.229. US murder and crime rates are not low.
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Advanced materials research is morally ambiguous? You talk about "free and open" while people in this country are charged with felony vandalism for touching the peeling paint in the reflecting pool. https://www.wusa9.com/article/... [wusa9.com]
Or how about being executed in the street for exercising second amendment rights? https://www.bbc.com/news/artic... [bbc.com]
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When China invites people because they have skill, they don't set the power of the government to harass those people. Here in the USA, the current administration is not only turning people away who want or wanted to come, but those who ARE allowed to come are then assaulted by ICE in many cases. That is what makes the USA obviously hostile toward immigrants as well as visitors.
Quid Pro Quo (Score:2)
In fairness, while America may lose a Nobel prize winning chemist, they'll pick up several South African Nazis.