French scientist Henri Kagan has become one of the oldest people to win a Nobel Prize after receiving the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the age of 95. He shared the honour with Japanese chemist Kenso Soai, 76, for their groundbreaking research into asymmetric molecules.
Their discoveries have significant implications for pharmaceutical manufacturing, particularly in developing safer and more effective medicines. Their work builds on research by 19th-century French chemist Louis Pasteur. The duo were announced as winners on Wednesday, October 7, for solving a long-standing mystery involving molecules that exist as mirror images of each other.
Kagan’s achievement places him among the three oldest Nobel laureates in history. Here is a look at some other scientists and researchers who received the prestigious honour in their later years. Their research demonstrated how chemical reactions can favour one mirror-image form of a molecule, a breakthrough with important applications in drug manufacturing. His pioneering research on artificial neural networks laid important foundations for modern machine learning and artificial intelligence. His research demonstrated how increasing carbon dioxide levels contribute to global warming and helped establish the foundations of modern climate modelling.
French chemist Henri Kagan received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Kenso Soai. Kagan had previously missed out on the 2001 Nobel Prize in a related field. American physicist John Hopfield shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics with Geoffrey Hinton. Japanese-born American climatologist Syukuro Manabe won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.
