Yet, there’s a twist: they act totally differently because one’s basically the mirror image of the other.
For decades, chemists wrestled with this puzzle.
On October 7, 2026, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored two scientists who finally teased apart this mystery.
Kagan, at 95, hails from Université Paris-Sud, while Soai, 76, is with Tokyo University of Science.
They’ll share the 12 million Swedish kronor prize.
Imagine two molecules: same atoms, same formula, nearly identical structure. Yet, there’s a twist: they act totally differently because one’s basically the mirror image of the other. For decades, chemists wrestled with this puzzle. After all, nearly everything in biology depends on picking one molecular “hand” over the other.
On October 7, 2026, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored two scientists who finally teased apart this mystery. Henri B. Kagan from France and Kenso Soai of Japan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.” That’s a mouthful, but it boils down to this: their work gave chemists the ability to control which version of a mirror-image molecule gets made, which is a game-changer for drugs, perfumes, materials, and even our understanding of life’s origins.
Kagan, at 95, hails from Université Paris-Sud, while Soai, 76, is with Tokyo University of Science. They’ll share the 12 million Swedish kronor prize.
