Scientists Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of “non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis”, the Nobel Committee announced on Wednesday.
The chemistry prize was the third Nobel award announced this week, following the medicine prize on Monday and the physics prize on Tuesday.
The award recognises foundational work on chirality — a property of molecules that can exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other but cannot be superimposed, much like a person’s left and right hands.
“This year’s prize is about foundational chemistry. Many molecules occur in two different versions. Like my hands. They are one another’s mirror image, they look alike, but they are not identical,” said Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
Such molecules are known as chiral, from the Greek word for “hand”.
The Nobel Prizes were established through the will of Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901, with some interruptions, mainly during the world wars.
Nobel, a chemist by training, amassed considerable wealth in the 19th century from inventions, particularly those linked to warfare, including dynamite.
The economics prize was established later and is funded by Sweden’s central bank.
Over the years, the chemistry prize has recognised major scientific advances, including nuclear fission and genetic sequencing technologies.
Last year, Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi won the chemistry Nobel for developing metal-organic frameworks, molecular structures that can be used in areas such as carbon capture, water purification and other applications.
Kagan and Soai will receive their Nobel medals from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf at a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
They will also share prize money of 12 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.2 million.
The awards ceremony will be followed by a banquet at Stockholm City Hall.
The Nobel Peace Prize, the only Nobel awarded outside Sweden, is presented separately in Oslo.