A humble Australian professor has won science's most prestigious prize by doing what he loves, after pondering on "big chemistry thoughts" for decades.

The University of Melbourne's Richard Robson has been honoured with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in developing a new form of molecular architecture alongside alongside Japan's Susumu Kitagawa and American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi.

The three laureates created molecular constructions with large spaces, through which gases and other chemicals can flow.

The technology can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide or store toxic gases.

The Nobel Prize committee noted the materials had a remarkably large surface area, for example, a porous material roughly the size of a sugar cube could contain as much surface ar

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