Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai win Nobel Prize in chemistry

Portraits of Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 7, 2026. Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP hide caption Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP STOCKHOLM — Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. "Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously," Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in a news release. "The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular." The duo's discoveries, the news release said, "have been decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals." Kagan, born in France, is affiliated with Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, and Soai, 95 years old and born in Japan, with the Tokyo University of Science. The so-called "Soai reaction" is named for the scientist's experiment. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stock...