A Frenchman and a Japanese win the Chemistry Nobel Prize for research that changed the world of medicine

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded today, Wednesday (October 7, 2026), to the Frenchman Henri Kagan and the Japanese Kensō Suei for their research into what is known as asymmetric catalysis.

The Nobel Committee justified giving the researchers this award because “their discoveries played a decisive role for chemists who devise reactions intended for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.”

Part of this sector had previously won a prize in 2001, but it was not awarded to Kagan, who is considered in France and the world the “father” of this technology, which at the time sparked a protest from the French Ministry of Scientific Research.

"This year's prize is centered around basic chemistry," said Heiner Linke, head of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. The Nobel Foundation said, "Many drug molecules exist in two forms, each of which is a non-identical mirror image of the other. One of them has a therapeutic effect, while the other may cause unnecessary and sometimes harmful side effects."

Although the Chemistry Prizes are sometimes overshadowed by prizes in physics, literature and peace, they have honored many influential discoveries, including nuclear fission and genetic sequencing techniques.

This award, which dates back more than a century, is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the winners share 12 million Swedish krona ($1.2 million), in addition to the fame gained by the winning personalities, which constitutes the most prestigious scientific award in the world.

The Nobel Prize series concludes with the announcement of the Economics Prize on October 12.

Kagan, 95, remains a professor at the University of Paris-Sacly. Kenso Suai (76 years old) is a professor at the University of Natural Sciences in Tokyo. “It is the most wonderful day of my life,” the Japanese winner said when the Nobel Foundation contacted him by phone.

The names of the winners in the medicine and physics categories were previously announced on Monday and Tuesday.

The award was awarded in 2025 to three researchers who invented so-called metal-organic frameworks, which are molecular structures with large areas that allow the passage of gases and other chemicals.