DOMINANT ANGLE
Rome takes from the Nobel Prize in Chemistry the promise of safe medicines: the Italian press explains mirror molecules through thalidomide and recalls Kagan's exclusion in 2001.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Henri B. Kagan (France) and Kenso Soai (Japan) for nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
- 02
Heiner Linke, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, speaks of a solution to "a chemical mystery over a century old" (ANSA).
- 03
In 2001, Kagan had been excluded from a Nobel awarded to Sharpless, Knowles and Noyori; French Research Minister Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg had protested by letter (ANSA).
ANALYSIS
Rome, October 8, 2026. The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced on Wednesday, October 7, in Stockholm by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It was awarded to Frenchman Henri B. Kagan and Japanese Kenso Soai "for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis," according to Libero Quotidiano. ANSA specifies that this announcement concludes "the tre giorni" dedicated to scientific Nobels.
The Italian press first focuses on explaining the enigma. ANSA, in its biotech section, headlines the "directors of mirror molecules" and quotes the president of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Heiner Linke: the two laureates have provided "a solution to a chemical mystery over a century old." Certain molecules exist in two variants, one a mirror image of the other, like hands; this phenomenon, chirality, is common in amino acids. According to the agency, Kagan and Soai were the first to control reactions on so-called "homochiral" molecules, paving the way for new technologies, especially for the production of medicines.
La Repubblica, under the pen of Elena Dusi, pushes the prism towards health. In living beings, only one of the two forms is "mysteriously" found, and medicines must respect this symmetry, "as the case of thalidomide teaches." The daily summarizes the contribution of the two researchers: they explained how to synthesize safe medicines.
A second thread of reading is the reminder of an old quarrel. ANSA headlines that the prize arrives "25 years after the controversy" over Kagan's exclusion. In 2001, the Nobel Prize had gone to Americans Barry Sharpless and William Knowles and Japanese Ryoji Noyori for asymmetric catalysis. The agency recalls the letter of protest sent to the Nobel Foundation by the French Minister of Research at the time, Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg, who emphasized that Kagan had been the first to publish his discovery, in 1971. Kagan had chosen to remain absolutely silent. La Repubblica repeats the same reminder: he had been excluded from a Nobel Prize awarded for related research.
The treatment remains sober and pedagogical, without an Italian national angle: no political reaction or reaction from Italian research appears in the texts consulted. The articles focus on science, its pharmaceutical applications, and the late reparation made to a French chemist.
