Japan wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the 2nd consecutive year and 10th time... Breaking news and extracurricular “Japan’s chemistry level proven” (comprehensive)

(Tokyo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Cho Sung-mi = On the 7th, Soai Kenso, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science in Japan, was selected as a co-winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, making Japan the 10th winner of the Chemistry Prize.

Local media featured the news of Professor Soai's award and quickly reported the reactions of the person and people around him who were thrilled.

Kyodo News and Jiji News announced the news of the award through breaking news, and major daily newspapers such as Asahi Shimbun and Nippon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) published extras.

Major media outlets, including the Yomiuri Shimbun, posted related news at the top of their homepages.

Yomiuri gave meaning to the award, saying, "This award is a great achievement for Japan, following last year's awards to Professor Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University (Physiology and Medicine Prize) and Professor Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University (Chemistry Prize)."

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called Professor Soai and congratulated him, saying, "I am proud as a Japanese person," and expressed his intention to expand government investment in the field of basic science.

Kohei Morikawa, President of the Japanese Chemical Society, said, "Professor Soai's award as an honorary member is a matter of great pride as it proves the high level of Japanese chemistry."

Kyodo News reported that the Tokyo University of Science and Technology, where Professor Soai is an emeritus professor, was in a celebratory mood.

Students at this university expressed their excitement to this media outlet, saying, "It was unexpected. I feel like I have to study hard."

The village head of Hiroshima Prefecture, Professor Soai's hometown, said in a phone interview with Kyodo News, "It is truly a happy occasion for someone from the region to receive a world-renowned award. I would like to express my congratulations along with the residents."

Professor Soai was the first to implement an asymmetric autocatalytic synthesis reaction called the ‘Soai reaction’.

Even if the chemical reaction products initially exist in approximately the same amount, it refers to an organic synthesis reaction in which only one form self-proliferates, starting from a slight imbalance and acting as a catalyst on its own.

This has been expected to provide clues to how substances essential for sustaining life were created and also lead to the development of new drugs.

Last year, Japan produced Professor Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University as a joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This year, I won the Chemistry Award for the second year in a row.

Professor Soai is the 10th Japanese winner of the Chemistry Prize.

This is the third consecutive year that Japan has won the Nobel Prize, following the Japanese atomic bomb victims' group 'Nihon Hidankyo' (Japan Atomic Bomb Victims' Association), which received the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

The total number of Japanese individual Nobel Prize winners as counted by Japanese media has increased to 31. Among them, three people acquired American citizenship. Including Nihon Hidankyo, the only group winner, Professor Soai becomes the 32nd Japanese Nobel Prize winner.

Japanese-British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, who won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, moved to England at the age of five and grew up, so he is not usually considered a Japanese laureate.

Professor Soai is the 28th Japanese Nobel Prize winner in the field of natural science (including American nationals).

Looking at the Nobel Prize in Science winners by field, there are 12 winners of the Physics Prize, 10 of the Chemistry Prize, and 6 of the Physiology or Medicine Prize. Of the total 28 people, 23 have been awarded since 2000. Recently, an average of one award winner has been produced per year.