Susumu Kitagawa

Susumu Kitagawa obtained a Ph.D. degree from Kyoto University. He has been Distinguished Professor at Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Science (KUIAS) and the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) at Kyoto University. He is Executive Vice-President for Research Promotion for Kyoto University from 2024.

He originated the science and technology of gas with porous coordination polymers (PCPs) and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). He predicted early on the softness of PCP/MOF crystals and demonstrated that their framework changes in response to external fields to express various functions such as storage, separation, and conversion. He named these materials soft porous crystals (SPC) as a more generic term and pioneered chemistry, which is now rapidly spreading to other porous materials. He has advocated that the 21st century will be the "age of gas," where gas will be a crucial material in all areas of the environment, energy, resources, and health, and porous materials will play an important role.

He received the Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry Award (2007), the Humboldt Research Award (2008), The Chemical Society of Japan Award (2009), the Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate (Chemistry) (2010), The Medal with Purple Ribbon, the Japanese Government (2011), The RSC de Gennes Prize (2013), The 10th Leo Esaki Prize (2013). Japan Academy Award (2016) and ACS Fred Basolo Medal (2016), The 58^th Fujihara Award (2017), and Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize (2017), Grand Prix of the Fondation de la maison de la chimie, France (2018). Thomson Reuters and Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher (2014 - 2022). He is a member of the Japan Academy, a foreign member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS), an RSC fellow, Honorary Member of the Chemical Society of Japan and of the Japan Society of Coordination Chemistry.