Born in Kobe, Japan, in 1938, Ryoji Noyori completed his Master Degree in 1963 at Kyoto University and received his Dr. Eng. in 1967. Noyori spent a postdoctoral year in 1969–1970 at Harvard.

He has long enjoyed education and research of chemistry at Nagoya and now is University Professor. Noyori served as President of RIKEN since 2003 before moving to the Japan Science and Technology Agency as Director-General of the Center for Research and Development Strategy in 2015.

He was President of the Chemical Society of Japan in 2002–2003. His research has focused on the fundamentals and applications of organometallic chemistry. Noyori is best known for his development of asymmetric catalysis using chiral organometallic catalysts and promotion of green chemistry.

He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with W. S. Knowles and K. B. Sharpless.

He is a Member of the Japan Academy and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a Member of the European Academy of Engineering (2004), the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Society in the UK.