SRINAGAR: Scientists Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis, the Nobel Prize-awarding body announced on Wednesday.
BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.” https://t.co/nH090ql1Xc— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2026
The chemistry prize was the third Nobel award announced during this year’s Nobel week, following the medicine prize on Monday and the physics prize on Tuesday.
The award recognises foundational work in chemistry involving chirality, a property in which molecules exist in two forms that are mirror images of one another but cannot be superimposed.
Explaining the significance of the research, Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, compared the two forms of such molecules to human hands, which are mirror images but cannot be placed exactly on top of each other.
The laureates 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. The ceremony will be followed by the traditional Nobel banquet at Stockholm City Hall.
Kagan and Soai will share the prize money of 12 million Swedish crowns, equivalent to about $1.2 million.
The Nobel Prizes were established through the will of Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901, with interruptions largely associated with the two world wars. Nobel, a chemist by profession, accumulated substantial wealth through his inventions, most notably dynamite.
The economics prize is separate from the original Nobel awards and was established later by Sweden’s central bank.
Chemistry laureates have over the years been recognised for major scientific advances, including discoveries relating to nuclear fission and genetic sequencing.
Last year, the chemistry Nobel was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for developing metal-organic frameworks, molecular structures with potential applications in areas including addressing climate change and freshwater scarcity.
The Nobel Peace Prize is the only Nobel award presented outside Sweden and is awarded separately in Oslo.
