Richard Robson (born 4 June 1937) is a Professor of Chemistry at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. Robson has published over 200 articles, specialising in

coordination polymers Coordination may refer to: * Coordination (linguistics), a compound grammatical construction * Coordination complex, consisting of a central atom or ion and a surrounding array of bound molecules or ions ** A chemical reaction to form a coordinati ...

, particularly metal-organic frameworks. He has been described as "a pioneer in crystal engineering involving

transition metals In chemistry, a transition metal (or transition element) is a chemical element in the d-block of the periodic table (groups 3 to 12), though the elements of group 12 (and less often group 3) are sometimes excluded. The lanthanide and actinid ...

Education

Robson was born in

Glusburn Glusburn is a village and electoral ward in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The village is situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, sits on the A6068 Kildwick to Hapton road, and is conjoined to the village of Sutton-in-Craven at ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

in the UK, and read chemistry at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(BA 1959, DPhil 1962). He undertook postdoctoral research at

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

1962-64 and at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

1964-65, before receiving a Lectureship in chemistry at the University of Melbourne 1966-70 where he remained for the duration of his career.

Research

Richard Robson's groundbreaking research is in the field of coordination polymers, particularly in the infinite polymeric framework, later termed as Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). His journey into this field began in 1974 when he was tasked with building large wooden models of crystalline structures for first-year chemistry lectures. In the 1990s, Robson created a new class of coordination polymers that would inspire an entirely new field of chemistry. His approach involved using copper in the oxidation state known as copper I, which has a preference for tetrahedral geometry, and mixing it with a specially designed tetranitrile organic compound. This method resulted in the creation of crystal-like scaffolds with a diamond-like structure but with significant space within the framework.

Recognition

Professor Robson is a recipient of the prestigious Burrows Award, Inorganic Division of The Royal Australian Chemical Institute 1998 and was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science 2000. In 2022 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

References

1937 births Living people English emigrants to Australia Alumni of the University of Oxford Australian materials scientists Australian chemists Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Fellows of the Royal Society {{chemist-stub