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 admits his work might easily have been dismissed, recalling how some thought it was "a whole load of rubbish" when he began developing the idea in the 1970s.

Decades later at the ripe old age of 88, he's been honoured with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering a new form of molecular architecture, 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

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