Richard Robson (chemist) facts for kids

Richard Robson FAA FRS is a brilliant English and Australian chemist. He is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne. Professor Robson is famous for his work on special materials called coordination polymers, especially metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). People call him a "pioneer" because he was one of the first to create these amazing crystal structures using transition metals. In 2025, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Susumu Kitagawa and Omar M. Yaghi. They received the award for developing metal-organic frameworks, which are super useful materials!

Discovering Amazing Materials

Early Life and Learning

Richard Robson was born in Glusburn, England, on June 4, 1937. He loved chemistry from a young age. He studied chemistry at Brasenose College, Oxford, a famous university. He earned his first degree in 1959. Then, he continued his studies and received a DPhil in 1962. A DPhil is like a very advanced degree, where you do a lot of research and write a big paper. His research was about how light affects organic molecules.

After his studies in England, he traveled to the United States. He did more research at the California Institute of Technology from 1962 to 1964. Then he went to Stanford University from 1964 to 1965. In 1966, he moved to Australia. He became a chemistry teacher at the University of Melbourne. He stayed there for his whole career, teaching and doing amazing research.

Building Blocks of Chemistry

Richard Robson's research changed how we think about chemistry. He discovered important ideas about coordination polymers. These are special materials that are like tiny building blocks linked together. He focused on what are now called metal–organic frameworks, or MOFs.

His interest in these materials started in 1974. He was building big wooden models of crystals for his students. This helped him see how atoms could connect in new ways.

In the 1990s, Professor Robson created a whole new type of coordination polymer. This discovery led to a brand new area of chemistry! He used a metal called copper(I). Copper(I) naturally forms a shape like a pyramid with four sides (a tetrahedron). He combined this with a special organic molecule he designed. This molecule had four "arms" that could connect to the copper.

By carefully putting these pieces together, he made crystal structures. These structures looked like diamonds but had lots of empty spaces inside. Imagine a sponge, but made of super strong, tiny chemical connections! These empty spaces can be designed to hold other molecules. This makes MOFs useful for many things, like storing gases or cleaning water.

Awards and Recognition

Professor Robson's important work earned him many awards. In 1998, he received the Burrows Award from a group called The Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He was also chosen as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2000. This means he is recognized as one of Australia's top scientists.

In 2022, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very old and respected group of scientists in the United Kingdom. And, as we mentioned, in 2025, he won the highest honor in science: the Nobel Prize in Chemistry! This award recognized his incredible contributions to creating metal-organic frameworks.

See also

In Spanish: Richard Robson para niños