University of Melbourne professor Richard Robson, along with Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa and Jordanian-American Omar Yaghi, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering a new type of molecular architecture.
The trio developed highly porous molecular frameworks that allow gases and other chemicals to flow, enabling applications such as harvesting water from desert air, capturing carbon dioxide, and storing toxic gases. Some of these materials have enormous surface areas; a sugar-cube-sized sample can have a surface area equivalent to a large football pitch.
Robson, 88, expressed that he was “very pleased and a bit stunned” by the recognition, while Kitagawa, 74, said he was “deeply honoured and delighted” that his long-term research had been acknowledged. Yaghi, 60, highlighted that their work laid the foundation for creating tens of thousands of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which could help address global challenges, including removing toxic “forever chemicals” from water and breaking down pharmaceutical residues.
Robson was born in Britain and moved to Australia in his late 20s, Kitagawa is Japanese, and Yaghi, whose parents were Palestinian refugees, moved to the U.S. as a teenager. Their collective discoveries, which began in 1989 with Robson, have transformed the field of chemistry and opened up solutions for climate and environmental issues.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with the 2025 laureates sharing 11 million Swedish crowns (approximately AUD 1.8 million), in addition to global recognition for their contributions.
