Nobel chemistry prize goes to Japan's Kenzō Soai and France's Henri Kagan

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Oct 7, 2026 that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will go to Kenzō Soai, an emeritus professor at Tokyo University of Science, and Henri Kagan of France. The academy cited “the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.” Nikkei xTECH called Kagan an emeritus professor at Paris-Saclay University, while TBS NEWS DIG reported he is with Paris 11 University. [ 6 , 10 , 16 , 17 ]

Soai, 76, told the academy by telephone immediately after the announcement that he was “very excited” and that it was “one of the most exciting days” of his life. He said he was glad to share the prize with Kagan, whom he called a renowned organic chemist. Asked what he was doing when he heard, he said with a laugh that he had been out shopping; Asahi reported he had gone alone to a nearby supermarket to buy food. [ 9 , 11 , 21 ]

Soai left his flat in Shiki, Saitama Prefecture, at about 8:20 p.m. in a suit to attend a press conference, telling reporters “of course I’m happy” and saying he wanted to deepen his studies. At 10 p.m., about three hours after the announcement, he appeared before roughly 100 reporters at Tokyo University of Science in Shinjuku, bowed and accepted a bouquet. He said he had been able to produce results “in a high-level environment in Japan” and would keep working to advance the research. He described his field as “the very basics, the platform” of life science and research as walking in the dark with a headlight. [ 11 , 21 ]

Nikkei xTECH said the prize honours work on chirality — molecules whose structures relate like mirror images — and homochirality, in which one form dominates, as in the amino acids and sugars of living things. Explaining homochirality’s origin could deepen understanding of the origin of life, it said, and the mechanism had long been unknown. The outlet traced the field to Louis Pasteur’s 19th-century discovery of chirality in tartaric acid crystals and to British physicist Charles Frank’s 1953 model of how a tiny chiral bias can be amplified. Soai said the autocatalytic reaction he discovered dates to 1995 and that he had continued the research since. [ 16 ]

The alumni association of the Hiroshima University-affiliated junior and senior high school Soai attended said its officers “cheered” at the news, and a vice-chairman called it splendid that a graduate of his school had been chosen. A nephew in Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, said he had long thought his uncle would win a Nobel. Saitama Governor Motohiro Ōno called it a great pride for the prefecture’s residents. [ 4 , 5 , 8 , 12 , 18 ]

Nikkei xTECH reported that Japan-origin laureates in the natural sciences now number 28 and that Soai is the 10th Japanese chemistry laureate, following Kitagawa Susumu in 2025. Mainichi reported that Soai told education minister Seki by telephone that he owed the result to Kakenhi research grants. [ 1 , 10 , 16 , 24 ]