US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. provoked strong rebukes after saying at a campaign event that "there's 500 million Arabs in the world and yet they don't produce science" and that they "don’t win the Nobel Prize. They don’t win the Fields Prize. They don’t win the Wolf Prize. They don’t produce literature." The remarks were made on the campaign trail in Grand Rapids, Michigan, days before midterm elections, and were widely criticised as inaccurate and racially biased.
Facts and definitions
The broad claim conflates ethnic, linguistic and religious categories. The term Arab denotes an ethnic and linguistic identity; people who are Arab may be Muslim, Christian, Jewish or follow other faiths. Conversely, the majority of the world’s Muslims are not Arab. An HHS representative had not responded to an Associated Press request for comment at the time of reporting.
Prize winners that contradict the claim
Historical and recent prize records show that people of Arab origin or descent have won major international awards in science, peace and literature. Notable examples set out in reporting include:
- Mohamed ElBaradei (Egypt) — Nobel Peace Prize, 2005, awarded jointly with the International Atomic Energy Agency for efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes.
- Tawakkol Karman (Yemen) — Nobel Peace Prize, 2011; first Yemeni and first Arab woman to receive the prize.
- Ahmed Zewail (Egyptian‑American) — Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1999, for work on femtochemistry.
- Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) — Nobel Prize in Literature, 1988.
- Omar M. Yaghi (Jordanian‑born) — Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2025; also a 2018 Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureate.
- Sir Michael Atiyah (of Lebanese descent) — Fields Medal, 1966.
- Yasser Arafat — Nobel Peace Prize, 1994, awarded jointly with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
"There's 500 million Arabs in the world and yet they don't produce science," Kennedy said on the campaign trail.
What the prize record shows
The examples above demonstrate that Arab scholars, scientists, writers and activists have been recognised at the highest levels across disciplines. The list spans awards in chemistry, peace, literature and mathematics and includes laureates from the late 20th century through to the 2020s. These awards are not a comprehensive inventory of all contributions to science and culture by Arabs, but they directly contradict the blanket assertion that Arabs do not produce science or win major international prizes.
| Name | Prize | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Mohamed ElBaradei | Nobel Peace Prize | 2005 |
| Tawakkol Karman | Nobel Peace Prize | 2011 |
| Ahmed Zewail | Nobel Prize in Chemistry | 1999 |
| Naguib Mahfouz | Nobel Prize in Literature | 1988 |
| Omar M. Yaghi | Nobel Prize in Chemistry / Wolf Prize | 2025 / 2018 |
| Sir Michael Atiyah | Fields Medal | 1966 |
| Yasser Arafat | Nobel Peace Prize | 1994 |
Why this matters for science reporting
Public statements by senior officials about who contributes to science matter because they shape public understanding of where innovation and scholarship come from. Blanket claims that deny groups’ contributions can obscure the historical record and discourage participation in science and literature. Prize counts are an imperfect measure of contribution — they capture a tiny subset of achievement and are influenced by many factors including geopolitics, institutional support and language barriers — but the record of laureates plainly shows that Arabs have received some of the world’s most prestigious honours.
Careful reporting separates sweeping assertions from documented facts. In this case, the documented facts — prize winners across chemistry, literature, mathematics and peace — contradict the sweeping statement that Arabs do not produce science or win major international prizes.
