Date: 22 October 2025
Place of Ceremony: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, MARCO
Host Institution: Universidad Albert Einstein
Host Country: México
Award Ceremony
Watch the WCC 40th Award Ceremony at the Museum of Modern Art Monterrey (MARCO). Presented by Albert Einstein University.
Science Award
Professor Mercouri Kanatzidis, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University, USA, has been selected as the winner of the Albert Einstein World Award of Science 2025. The prize is awarded in recognition of the fundamental nature and broad impact of his research on Nanoscale Science.
“To stand here and receive the Albert Einstein World Award of Science is beyond anything I could have imagined. I feel an overwhelming sense of joy, gratitude, and humility at this extraordinary honor.
“To be recognized in this way, and to join the company of past recipients, is both humbling and inspiring. I thank the Council for this extraordinary distinction and for its mission of celebrating the pursuit of knowledge and creativity across science, education, and the arts.
“This journey underscores something essential: the power of basic, curiosity-driven research. When we ask questions without knowing the answers, when we allow ourselves to follow an intuition that seems improbable, we sometimes uncover discoveries that can transform our world. Perovskites have become one such story, reminding us that science, at its best, changes not only what we know but how we live.”
– Professor Mercouri Kanatzidis
To read Prof. Kanatzidis’ full speech, download the PDF by clicking the below button.
Message from Prof. Omar Yaghi, President, WCC
To read Prof. Yaghi’s full speech, download the PDF by clicking the below button.
Event News
Nobel Chemistry Laureate to Lead Award Ceremony in Monterrey
By Daniel Santiago, El Norte
Monterrey, Mexico, October 21, 2025
Omar Yaghi, one of the three scientists awarded the 2025 Nobel prize in Chemistry, will be in Monterrey tomorrow to present the Albert Einstein World Award of Science of the World Cultural Council (WCC) at the MARCO museum. The Council includes 260 researchers from around the world.
The Jordanian-Palestinian chemist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, along with Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa from Kyoto University and British-Australian Richard Robson from the University of Melbourne, were awarded the Nobel Prize for their ground-breaking work on molecular structures.
Yaghi has served as President of the WCC since January.
“He’s a scientist of exceptional stature, and he will be presenting the award in person,” said Esteban Meszaros, a member of the WCC. “It’s great news that our president has just won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.”
Founded in 1984, the WCC honours leading figures in science, the arts and education. The first award ceremony took place that year in Monterrey, in the San Pedro Auditorium.
The inaugural prize went to Guatemalan rersearcher Ricardo Bressani, of the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, for his contributions to improving human nutrition in Latin America.
“Mexico and Monterrey were chosen that year because the founders had a close connection with and a deep appreciation of Mexico as a welcoming country,” Meszaros explained.
Since then, the ceremony has been hosted in cities around the world. The 2025 edition marks its return to Monterrey.
Yaghi will present this year’s Albert Einstein World Award of Science to Mercouri Kanatzidis, professor of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University in the United States.
Kanatzidis is being honoured for his pioneering work in ushering in the “perovskite era” with the development of high performance, low-cost and durable photovoltaic semiconductors that represent a major breakthrough in solar conversion.
The WCC award includes a medal, a diploma, and a cash prize of 10,000 US dollars.
