Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for their development of metal–organic frameworks that could eventually help reduce pollution and combat climate change.

A member of the Nobel committee likened the discovery to Hermione Granger’s seemingly bottomless enchanted handbag in the “Harry Potter” series, in that the frameworks may look small from the outside, but are able to hold surprisingly vast quantities within them.

The Nobel Committee said Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi were being awarded for “groundbreaking discoveries,” saying “some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind’s greatest challenges.”

Robson, 88, is affiliated with the University of Melbourne in Australia. Kitagawa, 74, is with Japan’s Kyoto University and Yaghi, 60, with the University of California, Berkeley.

The chemists worked separately but added to each other’s breakthroughs, which began in 1989 with Robson.

From capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or sucking water out of dry desert air, the trio’s new form of molecular architecture can absorb and contain gases inside stable metal organic frameworks.

The frameworks can be compared to the timber framework of a house, and Hermione’s famous beaded handbag, in that they are small on the outside but very large on the inside, according to Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Yaghi found of he’d won the prize while traveling from San Francisco to Brussels on Wednesday. As he grabbed his luggage and prepared to transfer flights in Frankfurt, his phone started buzzing with a call from Sweden.

When his phone rang, Kitagawa was at first skeptical, but said he was "delighted" at a news conference.

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