Arab Nobel laureates and laureates of Arab descent (1960–2025)
The top 3 according to 8 votes from people: Peter Medawar (1960) · Elias James Corey (1990) · Yasser Arafat (1994). (Updated Nov 20, 2025.)
From Anwar Sadat, the first Arab Nobel laureate in 1978, and Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arab to win the Literature prize, to chemist Omar Yaghi in 2025: everyone from the Arab world or of Arab descent who has won a Nobel Prize, according to Arabic Wikipedia's list, in order of year with category and citation.
Automatically translated (original in العربية). See the original
Top 14
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1
Peter Medawar (1960)
Nobel Prize in Medicine. British physician of Lebanese descent, shared with Frank Burnet for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.
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2
Elias James Corey (1990)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry. American chemist of Lebanese descent, for developing the theory and methodology of organic synthesis.
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3
Yasser Arafat (1994)
Nobel Peace Prize. The first Palestinian laureate, shared with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin.
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4
Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (2015)
Nobel Peace Prize. Four Tunisian organisations, for their role in the democratic transition after the 2011 revolution.
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5
Abdulrazak Gurnah (2021)
Nobel Prize in Literature. Tanzanian novelist of Yemeni descent, born in Zanzibar.
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6
Moungi Bawendi (2023)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Chemist of Tunisian descent, for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.
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7
Omar Yaghi (2025)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Jordanian chemist of Palestinian origin, shared with Susumu Kitagawa and Richard Robson, for developing metal–organic frameworks.
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8
Anwar Sadat (1978)
Nobel Peace Prize. The first Arab Nobel laureate, after the Camp David Accords, shared with Menachem Begin.
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9
Naguib Mahfouz (1988)
Nobel Prize in Literature. Egyptian novelist, the first Arab to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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10
Ahmed Zewail (1999)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Egyptian-American scientist, for his work on femtochemistry.
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11
Mohamed ElBaradei (2005)
Nobel Peace Prize. Shared with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he led, for efforts against nuclear proliferation.
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12
Nadia Murad (2018)
Nobel Peace Prize. Iraqi Yazidi activist, shared with Denis Mukwege, for fighting sexual violence as a weapon of war.
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13
Ardem Patapoutian (2021)
Nobel Prize in Medicine. Lebanese-American scientist, shared with David Julius, for discovering receptors for temperature and touch.
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14
Tawakkol Karman (2011)
Nobel Peace Prize. Yemeni journalist and activist, the first Arab woman to win a Nobel Prize.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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