FACT FOCUS: Kennedy’s claim that Arabs ‘don’t produce science’ meets a Nobel Prize reality check

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, claimed Monday that Arabs "don't produce science" and fail to win major scientific and literary prizes, drawing swift criticism as factually incorrect. The assertion, made while campaigning in Michigan for a Republican Senate candidate, contradicts a documented record of Arab Nobel laureates and prize winners, including Egyptian chemist Ahmed Zewail (1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz (1988 Nobel Prize in Literature), and Jordanian-born chemist Omar M. Yaghi (2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry). Kennedy linked his claims to the Muslim Brotherhood's influence, though Arab refers to ethnicity and language rather than religion.