Richard Robson wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
A University of Melbourne professor won the Nobel Prize for developing metal-organic frameworks. These are crystal structures with many uses.
Richard Robson won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly porous crystal structures.
They can capture carbon dioxide, store gases safely, clean polluted water and harvest moisture from desert air. Robson's research began in 1987.
He received funding from a group that came before the Australian Research Council. At the time, nobody could have predicted where that work would lead.
Decades later, a wide range of uses emerged. The win shows how government investment in basic science can deliver major returns.
What comes next cannot be foreseen.
- 1987
- Research began
- Susumu Kitagawa, Omar Yaghi
- Co-winners
- Four decades
- Years to recognition
- University of Melbourne
- Institution
Why it mattersIt shows the long-term value of public money for science driven by curiosity. It raises a question. Which research should governments back when breakthroughs cannot be predicted?
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