Japanese scientist Kitagawa Susumu is one of the three winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating molecular constructions, called metal-organic frameworks.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences made the announcement on Wednesday. Kitagawa, executive vice-president of Kyoto University, shared the prize with Richard Robson from University of Melbourne in Australia, and Omar Yaghi from University of California, Berkeley, in the United States.
At a news conference at Kyoto University after the award announcement, Kitagawa said what he has engaged in is creating new materials and developing materials with new functions.
He said that it is a great joy for scientists to challenge new frontiers, and he has enjoyed doing what he did for the past 30 years or so.
He also said that he is truly grateful to everyone who worked with him and of course his family members for their support.
Kitagawa, 74, is a native of Kyoto. After graduating from Kyoto University, he took on several teaching positions, including associate professor at Kindai University, professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, and in 1998, professor at Kyoto University.
Since 2017, he served as distinguished professor of the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study. Last year, he became the university’s executive vice-president.
While researching compounds consisting of organic materials and metals, Kitagawa created a substance with extremely tiny holes called metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs.
These allow chemists to change the size of the holes as desired at the molecular level, making it possible to capture and store specific gases and separate out only targeted substances.
This technique is expected to make it possible to recover toxic gases emitted from factories and automobiles, and allow the safe storage of hydrogen, which is essential for fuel cells. Researchers in various fields are looking into ways to put the technique to practical use.
For multiple contributions, the Japanese government awarded Kitagawa a Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2011. He also received the Grand Prix from a French chemical association in 2018.
Kitagawa is the 30th Japanese person to win the Nobel Prize, following Sakaguchi Shimon, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday. The 30 recipients include those who obtained US citizenship.
He is the ninth Japanese person to receive the chemistry prize, following Yoshino Akira in 2019.
Last year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization representing the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War Two.
AloJapan.com