Fatima Al Mazrouei

A UAE-based inventor who developed affordable water purification systems, addressing regional water scarcity in the 1950s.

Fatima Al Mazrouei (1925–2011) was an Emirati engineer whose innovations in water desalination technology transformed agricultural practices in the Arabian Peninsula. Growing up in a Bedouin family, she witnessed the struggle to cultivate crops in arid environments. In 1953, she patented the Al Mazrouei Solar Still, a low-cost solar-powered distillation system that extracted drinkable water from seawater using materials like clay pots and copper tubing.

Her system achieved 90% efficiency at a fraction of the cost of contemporary methods, enabling farmers in Abu Dhabi to irrigate 200+ hectares of land by 1960. This breakthrough doubled the region's date palm production and laid the groundwork for modern UAE agriculture. Her 1965 paper Sustainable Water Solutions for Arid Regions introduced the concept of community-managed water grids, a model now used in 14 desert countries.

Al Mazrouei's work inspired the Masdar Institute's renewable energy initiatives. In 2008, she received the UNESCO Science Prize for Developing Countries for her contributions to sustainable engineering. Her legacy lives on in the Fatima Al Mazrouei Water Innovation Center in Dubai, which trains engineers from across the Middle East.

Her story is chronicled in the MIT OpenCourseWare module Pioneering Engineers of the Middle East. Modern researchers cite her solar still design as an early example of biomimicry, mimicking natural water cycles to solve human needs.