Basic research: Nobel Prize in Chemistry for two catalysis researchers

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to the Frenchman Henri Kagan and the Japanese Kenso Soai for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. This was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

The winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine were announced on Monday: they are the two German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel and the American Karl Deisseroth. They developed optogenetics, a method that shows how nerve cells in the living brain shape memories, feelings and behavior, the Nobel committee said.

Last year the Nobel Prize in Physics went to the British John Clarke, the French Michel Devoret and the American John Martinis. They received the award “for the discovery of the macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling effect and energy quantization in an electrical circuit.”