2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Abstract :- 7 October 2026 press release from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences declared Henri B. Kagan, Université Paris-Sud, France and Kenso Soai, Tokyo University of Science, Japan as Nobel Prize winners “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis”. It is related with chirality which sounds like an abstract science but it is all around us, even on our bodies. Some molecules, such as amino acids, exist as two mirror images of each other, often called enantiomers. It is somewhat similar to like our hands. However, living organisms contain only one of these mirror images. This chemical asymmetry was long a mystery to chemists. It was solved by these two chemists who found a solution to this puzzle. Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai (Photo1) have provided a solution to a century old chemical mystery: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. Here homochiral is a Greek word, meaning “same hand”. Henri B. Kagan was born in1930 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. He earned his PhD in 1960 from Collège de France, France. Presently he is Professor Emeritus at the then Université Paris-Sud, France Kenso Soai was born in 1950 in Hiroshima, Japan and obtained his PhD in 1979 from University of Tokyo, Japan. At present he is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, Japan.