Portraits of Henry Kagan and Kenso Soai are displayed on screen as they receive the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, October 7, 2026.
Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP
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Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP
STOCKHOLM — Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for their discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
“Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a more than century-old chemical mystery: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously,” said Heiner Linke, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, in a press release. “The chemical reactions they developed are spectacular.”
The duo’s findings, according to the press release, “have been decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.”
Kagan, born in France, is affiliated with the Université Paris-Sud d’Orsay, France, and Soai, 95, born in Japan, with the Tokyo University of Science.
The so-called “Soai reaction” owes its name to the scientist’s experiment.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm.
Last year, three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of new molecular structures capable of trapping large quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork for potentially sucking greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvesting moisture from desert environments.
This year’s awards began with the Nobel Prize in Medicine, awarded Monday to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help understand how the brain works. The physics prize Tuesday recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos.
The literature prize will be awarded on Thursday. After the Peace Prize is awarded on Friday, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Monday.
This year’s prize money is 12 million Swedish crowns (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of winners or an organization.
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