The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced that it has awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to French and Japanese scientists Henri Kagan and Kenzo Sui.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced that it has awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to French and Japanese scientists Henri Kagan and Kenzo Sui.

The Nobel Committee awarded this prize to these two scientists because they provided an explanation for the mystery of the asymmetric molecules on which life depends.

According to the Nobel Committee, "all molecules used by living organisms, such as amino acids, which are the basic material of proteins, have a property called chirality."

"What this situation means is that these molecules exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other."

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