British scientist among three winners of Nobel prize for chemistry

A British scientist is among three Nobel prize winners in chemistry for their work in the development of metal–organic frameworks.

Yorkshire-born Richard Robson, who studied at the University of Oxford, is affiliated with the University of Melbourne in Australia.

The 88-year-old shares the prize with Susumu Kitagawa, of Kyoto University in Japan, and Omar M Yaghi, based at the University of California, Berkeley.

An expert likened the discovery to Hermione Granger’s enchanted handbag in the fictional Harry Potter series.

From capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or sucking water out of dry desert air, the trio’s new form of molecular architecture can absorb and contain gases inside stable metal organic frameworks.

The frameworks can be compared to the timber framework of a house, and Hermione’s famous beaded handbag, in that they are small on the outside but very large on the inside, according to Olof Ramstrom, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Hans Ellegren, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the chemistry prize in Stockholm on Wednesday – the third prize announced this week.

The Nobel committee said the three laureates “have created molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow”.

“These constructions, metal-organic frameworks, can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyse chemical reactions,” the Nobel Committee said in a statement.

The trio’s research dates back to 1989.

“Metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions,” Heiner Linke, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in a news release.

There have been 116 chemistry prizes given to 195 individuals between 1901 and 2024.

The 2024 prize was awarded to David Baker, a biochemist at the University of Washington in Seattle, and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, computer scientists at Google DeepMind, a British-American artificial intelligence research laboratory based in London.

The three were awarded for discovering powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins, the building blocks of life.

Their work used advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, and holds the potential to transform how new drugs and other materials are made.

The first Nobel of 2025 was announced on Monday. The prize in medicine went to Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.

Tuesday’s physics prize went to Briton John Clarke, Michel H Devoret and John M Martinis for their research on the weird world of subatomic quantum tunnelling that advances the power of everyday digital communications and computing.

This year’s Nobel announcements continue with the literature prize on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the economics prize next Monday.

The award ceremony will be held on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, who founded the prizes.

Mr Nobel was a wealthy Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite. He died in 1896.