Stockholm, October 07 (QNA) - The Nobel Prize-awarding body announced today that French scientist Henri Kagan and Japan’s Kenso Soai have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of research that helped solve a longstanding puzzle involving molecules that exist in two mirror-image forms, and provided important tools for designing chemical reactions used in the manufacture of medicines.

Kagan, 95, and Soai, 76, built their research on discoveries whose foundations were laid by French chemist Louis Pasteur in the 19th century. Their work concerns a phenomenon known as stereoisomerism, in which many molecules essential to life exist in two mirror-image forms, while living organisms often rely on one form rather than the other.

The Nobel Committee said that the laureates' discoveries demonstrated how chemical reactions can be directed to selectively produce one of these molecular forms. This is particularly important in drug development, as one form of a molecule may have a different effect from the other.

The two laureates will share prize money of 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million) and will receive their medals at a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

The Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901 in the sciences, literature and peace. The prize in economic sciences was added later with funding from Sweden’s central bank. (QNA)