Nobel Prize Conversations

First reactions | Richard Robson, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 | Telephone interview

Oct 8, 2025
Richard Robson, the 2025 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, shares his whimsical journey from a meandering path to groundbreaking research on metal–organic frameworks. He reflects on how a simple teaching model sparked a revolutionary idea that faced skepticism. Despite doubts, his obsessive dedication led him from conceptualization to hands-on experimentation. Robson humbly discusses the significance of collaboration in his solitary journey and offers insights on celebrating this monumental achievement later in life.
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INSIGHT

A Career Can Start By Drift

  • Robson admits he drifted into chemistry and felt inferior to mathematicians, yet stayed because he saw no better option.
  • His modest career path emphasizes curiosity and persistence over early vocational certainty.
INSIGHT

Simple Ideas Can Create Big Fields

  • Robson says his field's broad development was predictable from basic reasoning about geometry and bonding.
  • He frames the breakthrough as simple, common-sense thinking rather than mystical genius.
ANECDOTE

From Teaching Models To Molecular Nets

  • Richard Robson describes how teaching model construction led to his idea of using molecules as nodes and bonds as rods to build net-like structures.
  • He first had the idea in 1974 and later pursued lab work in the mid-1980s to make polymeric metal–organic structures.
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