Japan’s Nobel Laureates: Soai Kensō Wins 2026 Chemistry Prize

Mirror-Image Molecules

Soai Kensō, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing it with Henri B. Kagan, professor emeritus at Paris-Saclay University, for discoveries that offer clues to how living organisms came to contain only one of the two mirror-image variants of key molecules, such as amino acids.

Many essential molecules come in left-handed and right-handed versions that mirror each other, just like a pair of gloves. Yet in nature, living things use only one version. Professor Soai discovered a self-multiplying chemical reaction, known as the “Soai reaction,” in which molecules of one handedness produce more of themselves, amplifying a tiny imbalance into a strong preference. This offers a possible model for how the preference for one version arose. The discovery is expected to find applications in developing pharmaceuticals, fragrances, and sweeteners.

Soai is the thirty-second individual of Japanese origin to win a Nobel Prize across all fields and the tenth Japanese researcher to win the chemistry award, following Kitagawa Susumu, who received the Nobel in the field last year.

Japanese Nobel Prizewinners

2026: Chemistry

Soai Kensō

A professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, Soai was one of two recipients of the award “for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”

2025: Chemistry

Kitagawa Susumu

A distinguished professor at Kyoto University, Kitagawa was one of three recipients of the prize for “the development of metal–organic frameworks.”

2025: Physiology or Medicine

Sakaguchi Shimon

Sakaguchi, a specially appointed professor at the University of Osaka, won a third share of the prize for “discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”

2024: Peace

Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyō)

The organization was named winner for “its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”

2021: Physics

Syukuro Manabe (Manabe Shukurō)

Manabe, a US citizen, is senior meteorologist at the Princeton University Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. He was one of two winners for “groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.”

2019: Chemistry

Yoshino Akira

An honorary fellow at Asahi Kasei and professor at Meijō University, Yoshino was one of three winners chosen for “the development of lithium-ion batteries.”

2018: Physiology or Medicine

Honjo Tasuku

A distinguished professor at Kyoto University, Honjo won half of the prize for “discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.”

2017: Literature

Kazuo Ishiguro

A British citizen born in Japan, Ishiguro was honored as a writer “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

2016: Physiology or Medicine

Ōsumi Yoshinori

Ōsumi, professor emeritus at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, won the prize for “his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy,” how unnecessary or dysfunctional proteins in cells are degraded and recycled.

2015: Physics

Kajita Takaaki

The director of the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Cosmic Radiation Research, Kajita was one of two recipients selected for “the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.”

2015: Physiology or Medicine

Ōmura Satoshi

Ōmura, distinguished professor emeritus at Kitasato University, was one of three winners of the prize, with his recognition coming for “discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites.”

2014: Physics

Akasaki Isamu, Amano Hiroshi, Nakamura Shūji

The three Japan-born recipients (Nakamura, professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is a US citizen) shared the prize for “the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.” Akasaki is professor at Meijō University and professor emeritus at Nagoya University; Amano is professor at Nagoya University.

2012: Physiology or Medicine

Yamanaka Shin’ya

Yamanaka, professor and director of Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, was one of two winners for “the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.”

2010: Chemistry

Negishi Eiichi, Suzuki Akira

Negishi (distinguished professor at Purdue University) and Suzuki (professor emeritus at Hokkaidō University) were two of the three winners for “palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings in organic synthesis.”

2008: Physics

Nanbu Yōichirō, Kobayashi Makoto, Masukawa Toshihide

Nanbu, a US citizen and professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, won half of the year’s prize for “the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics.” The other half was shared by Kobayashi (professor emeritus at the Japanese High Energy Accelerator Research Organization) and Masukawa Toshihide (professor emeritus at Kyoto University) for “the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature” (the Kobayashi-Masukawa Theory of CP violation).

2008: Chemistry

Shimomura Osamu

Professor emeritus at Boston University, Shimomura was one of three recipients of the prize for “the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP.”

2002: Chemistry

Tanaka Kōichi

A fellow at Shimadzu Corporation, Tanaka was one of three winners for “development of soft desorption ionization methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules.”

2002: Physics

Koshiba Masatoshi

Koshiba, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, won half of the prize for “pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos” (using the Kamiokande facility in Gifu Prefecture).

2001: Chemistry

Noyori Ryōji

A professor at the Nagoya University School of Science, Noyori won a fourth share of the prize for his “work on chirally catalyzed hydrogenation reactions.”

2000: Chemistry

Shirakawa Hideki

Shirakawa, professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, was one of three recipients for “the discovery and development of conductive polymers.”

1994: Literature

Ōe Kenzaburō

Ōe was hailed as a writer “who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today.”

1987: Physiology or Medicine

Tonegawa Susumu

A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tonegawa won the prize for “his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity.”

1981: Chemistry

Fukui Ken’ichi

Fukui, a professor at the Kyoto University School of Engineering, was one of two recipients for theories “concerning the course of chemical reactions.”

1974: Peace

Satō Eisaku

The prime minister of Japan won for his renunciation of the nuclear option for the nation and his efforts to further regional reconciliation.

1973: Physics

Esaki Reona

One of three recipients of the year’s prize, Esaki—a researcher at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center—won a fourth share of the award for “experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively.”

1968: Literature

Kawabata Yasunari

The author was picked for “his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind.”

1965: Physics

Tomonaga Shin’ichirō

Tomonaga, a professor at the Tokyo University of Education, was one of three recipients for “fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles.”

1949: Physics

Yukawa Hideki

The physicist Yukawa, professor at the Kyoto University School of Science, won for “his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces.”

(Translated from Japanese: Banner photo: Tokyo University of Science Professor Emeritus Soai Kensō receives a bouquet during a Tokyo press conference following the announcement of his Nobel Prize in Chemistry on October 7, 2026. © Kyōdō.)