Brief
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai win 2026 Nobel Chemistry prize
The Swedish Academy honoured the French‑Japanese duo for discoveries on non‑linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric synthesis.
By Felo News Desk · Published
France's Henri Kagan and Japan's Kenso Soai received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 7 October in Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.
What happened
The Academy said the award recognises their "discovery of non‑linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis", a breakthrough that explains why only one mirror‑image form of certain molecules appears in nature – a phenomenon known as homochirality.
What the reports add
Gulf News noted that the prize citation highlighted the duo's work as decisive for designing pharmaceutical reactions, and quoted the Nobel Committee chair Heiner Linke describing the discoveries as "spectacular" and a solution to a century‑old chemical mystery.
What was said
Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, told Gulf News, "Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular."
How it came about
The award follows last year’s chemistry prize to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for molecular‑structure design, and precedes the physics prize to Francis Halzen and the medicine prize to Karl Deisseroth and colleagues.
Key facts
- Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (gulfnews.com)
- The award cited their discovery of non‑linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis (gulfnews.com)
- Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, called the work "spectacular" and a solution to a century‑old mystery (gulfnews.com)
Sources
- [1] gulfnews.com — originally reported as “Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai”
