Briefs · Frontier Science
Three days, three prizes, one week of Stockholm
The Nobel week of 2025 did not pick a theme. It picked three.
Chemistry, on 8 October, went to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi, for the development of metal–organic frameworks. Their molecular constructions are mostly empty space — metal ions as cornerstones, linked by organic struts — and that emptiness is the point. MOFs can harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases and catalyse chemical reactions. A gram of the stuff can hold a football field’s worth of surface area.
Literature, on 9 October, went to the Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai, “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”. His dense, apocalyptic novels are not easy reading, but rather the kind of reading that survives the apocalypse it describes.
Peace, on 10 October, went to María Corina Machado of Venezuela, “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”.
Conclusion: the Nobel is not one prize, but rather three answers to the same question — molecules, manuscripts, Machado.
Read the original at NobelPrize.org (Chemistry press release)
Summary in our own words. The original belongs to its publisher.