Andrea Innocenti At a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued that the world's five hundred million Arabs "produce neither science" nor literature , nor win prizes like the Nobel Prize or the Fields Prize. The remarks immediately sparked controversy, as Arabs have historically led important discoveries in mathematics, medicine, optics, and geography.
RFK Jr.'s Statements and the Political Context
The speech was delivered at a campaign event where Kennedy was endorsing Republican candidate Mike Rogers over Arab-American Abdul El-Sayed. The speech, delivered in a climate of intense partisan tension, was deemed racist and Islamophobic by several observers, who emphasized the lack of factual basis for his remarks.
Organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations have called for his removal from his role as secretary, highlighting the risk of fueling hatred against the Arab and Muslim community.
The Roots of Arab Science: From the Golden Age to Modern Innovations
The period commonly referred to as the Islamic Golden Age (c. 750–1258 AD) saw the flowering of a scientific culture in which Arabic was the lingua franca of knowledge.
Figures such as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (813–833) introduced algebra, codifying linear and quadratic equations in the treatise “Al-Jabr.” At the same time, the numbers 0–9 , imported from India, were popularized by Arab scholars, replacing the more limited Roman numerals.
The pioneers of optics and surgery
Ibn al-Haytham (965–1040), known as the "father of modern optics," explained the role of light in human vision, laying the foundations of the physics of light. At the same time, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (936–1013), nicknamed the "father of modern surgery," compiled a 30-volume encyclopedia on medical practices and illustrated numerous surgical instruments, influencing European medicine for centuries.
Discoveries in medicine and geography
In the 9th century, Fatima al-Fihri founded the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, considered the oldest university still in operation. Later, Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288) described the pulmonary circulation before William Harvey, while Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100-1165) created the “Tabula Rogeriana,” one of the most precise medieval maps, demonstrating Arab excellence in cartography as well.
Contemporary awards: Nobel Prize, Fields Prize, and Wolf Prize
RFK Jr.'s claims are blatantly contradicted by the recent successes of Arab scientists. Peter Medawar , born to a Lebanese father, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1960 for his work on immune tolerance. Mathematician Michael Atiyah , of Lebanese origin, received the Fields Medal in 1966. Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, the only laureate to write in Arabic.
In chemistry, Ahmed Zewail (Egypt) was awarded both the Wolf Prize (1993) and the Nobel Prize (1999) for femtocemia. Mohamed El-Baradei shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 as director of the IAEA. More recently, Omar M. Yaghi , of Palestinian origin, won the Wolf Prize (2018) and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2025) for metal-organic frameworks , materials capable of capturing gases, collecting water from the air, and purifying pollutants.
Other scientists of Arab descent have received prestigious awards: Elias James Corey (Lebanon-American) won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Moungi Bawendi (French-Tunisian) won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for quantum dots, and Omar Yaghi was awarded again in 2025. These examples demonstrate that the “no prizes” narrative is baseless.