Nobel Prize 2026: Two Scientists Honored for Unveiling Chemical Mysteries of Life’s Existence
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French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japan’s Kenso Soi have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year.
The Nobel Committee has decided to honor them for unveiling the chemical mystery related to molecular asymmetry found in living organisms.
“The fundamental components of proteins used by all living creatures, such as amino acids, are called ‘chiral,’” the Nobel Committee explained. “This means they exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other.”
However, among these two forms, only one is found in living organisms.
The scientists who won the prize this year have provided the solution to why only one form is suitable for the existence of life.
On Monday, Nobel Prize winners in Physiology/Medicine were announced—three recipients—and on Tuesday, one winner in Physics was revealed.
This year, American psychologist and neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth and his German colleagues Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel will be recognized for major contributions in the field of optogenetics. Additionally, Francis Halzen will be honored for establishing the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and detecting high-energy neutrinos originating from space.
According to the Nobel Committee, winners for Literature will be announced on Thursday, Peace on Friday, and Economic Sciences next Monday.
Image source, Beata Zawrzel/Getty Images
Previous Prize Winners
Image description, Last year, Japanese Susumu Kitagawa, Australian Richard Robson, and American Omar Yaghi were honored
- 2025: Jointly awarded to Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa, Australia’s Richard Robson, and America’s Omar Yaghi for developing Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs).
- 2024: David Baker received the award for Computational Protein Design, and Demis Hassabis along with John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind were honored for their contributions in Protein Structure Prediction.
- 2023: Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Alexei Ekimov were recognized for the development of Quantum Dots.
- 2022: Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and Barry Sharpless were awarded for significant contributions to Click Chemistry, a molecular assembly technology also used in cancer treatments.
- 2021: Benjamin List and David MacMillan were honored for creating mirror-image molecules.
- 2020: Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were recognized for DNA editing technologies.
- 2019: John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino received the award for developing lithium-ion batteries.
- 2018: American scientists Frances Arnold and George P. Smith, along with Britain’s Gregory Winter, were recognized for advancements in enzyme research.
- 2017: Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson were honored for producing sharp images of biological molecules.
- 2016: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart, and Bernard Feringa received the prize for constructing molecular machines.
- 2015: Thomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich, and Aziz Sancar were recognized for their work on DNA repair mechanisms.
Winners in the fields of Policy, Peace, and Economics will also be announced this week.