An Australian chemist just won the Nobel prize. Here’s how his work is changing the world

Prof Robson in 2018, Auckland, New Zealand. Deanna D'Alessandro/6th Global MOFs Conference

The 2025 Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded for the development of metal–organic frameworks: molecular structures that have large spaces within them, capable of capturing and storing gases and other chemicals.

The prize is shared by Susumu Kitagawa from Kyoto University, Omar M. Yaghi from the University of California, Berkeley, and an Australian professor – Richard Robson from the University of Melbourne.