DOMINANT ANGLE
Stockholm explains the chemistry of mirror hands: the Swedish press details the century-old enigma of homochirality and the scope of Kagan and Soai's "spectacular" reactions for drug manufacturing.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The prize honors Henri Kagan (95 years old, Paris-Saclay) and Kenso Soai (76 years old, University of Science in Tokyo) "for the discovery of 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 enigma over a hundred years old: how homochirality can appear spontaneously.
- 03
Kagan showed in 1986 a greater than expected excess of one of the two forms; Soai designed a reaction in 1995 and demonstrated it in 2003, forming only one form.
ANALYSIS
Stockholm, October 8, 2026. Svenska Dagbladet, DN, and The Local Sweden are focusing their coverage of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on the science itself. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday, October 7, the award given to Henri Kagan, 95, emeritus professor at the University of Paris-Saclay, and to Kenso Soai, 76, from the University of Tokyo, "for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis".
The newspapers are following the Academy's pedagogy. Amino acids exist in two variants, mirror images of each other like human hands, but only one is found in the proteins of cells. SvD recalls that researchers have long been trying to obtain only one of the two forms, as in a medicine, only one has the desired effect. DN quotes Louis Pasteur, who was the first to observe these mirror images in crystallized tartaric acid in the 19th century. The Local uses the metaphor of the locksmith: two mirror-image keys come out of the workshop, but only one opens the lock, and the other can damage it.
The chronology is detailed by SvD: in 1986, Kagan discovered how to obtain an excess of one of the two forms greater than previously thought possible; in 1995, Soai designed the first reaction that could become homochiral; in 2003, he presented a reaction that forms only one of the two forms, explaining homochirality for the first time. According to the Academy, no one had achieved this through chemical means, except for life itself.
The president of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Heiner Linke, is quoted by the three titles: the two laureates "have provided a solution to a chemical enigma that is over a hundred years old", and their reactions are "spectacular". Thalidomide is used as an example: The Local and SvD mention the thousands of children born with malformations in the early 1960s, the Academy specifying that it was the mirror image of the active substance that caused the damage.
Kenso Soai, reached by phone during the press conference in Stockholm, spoke of "one of the most exciting days" of his life, and said he was happy to share the prize with Professor Kagan. The Local notes that he was shopping when the call from Stockholm arrived. DN emphasizes the usefulness of the work for new medicines and materials.
The Swedish coverage remains focused on the scientific content: it does not dwell on the reaction in Paris or Tokyo, nor on the age of the French laureate.
