Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to scientist trio for Harry Potter-like work in molecular architecture

(CNN) — A trio of scientists have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing “metal-organic frameworks,” a form of molecular architecture that packs vast amounts of space into tiny structures – which the committee likened to Hermione Granger’s handbag in the Harry Potter novels.

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi will share the prize for their groundbreaking discoveries that could help tackle some of the planet’s most pressing problems, like climate change, the Nobel Committee announced Wednesday at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.

Heiner Linke, chair of the committee for chemistry, said the laureates’ discoveries and insights had made completely new materials that can “store huge amounts of gas in a tiny volume.”

Linke compared the materials to Hermione’