Portraits of Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 7, 2026. Photo: (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)

By The Canadian Press

Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Kagan and Soai for research solving ‘mirror image’ mystery

Oct 7, 2026 | 3:55 AM

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their efforts to resolve mysterious mirror images in chemical molecules.

“Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously,” Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in a news release. “The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular.”

The duo’s discoveries, the news release said, “have been decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.”

Kagan, 95 years old and born in France, is affiliated with Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, and Soai, born in Japan, with the Tokyo University of Science.

Soai said he was shopping near his home when he was reached by the Nobel committee.

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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm.

Last year, three scientists won the chemistry Nobel for their development of new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments.

This year’s prizes began with the Nobel for medicine, awarded Monday to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award Tuesday recognized a scientist’s efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos.

The literature prize is set to be awarded Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

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This story has been corrected to clarify that Kagan, and not Soai, is 95 years old.

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Dazio reported from Berlin.

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AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

Kostya Manenkov And Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Kagan and Soai for research solving ‘mirror image’ mystery

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