{
  "id": 13571429,
  "title": "Nobel Winner Soai Inspired by Pasteur's Experiment in 19th Century",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/10/nobel-winner-soai-inspired-by-pasteurs-experiment-in-19th-century",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-10T23:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Nippon.com News",
    "slug": "nippon-com-news",
    "url": "https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2026101000366/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In 19th century France, French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur conducted an experiment that would later inspire Kenso Soai, the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner. At the age of 76, Soai, a professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, has been dedicated to understanding the phenomenon behind why substances like amino acids and sugars tend to favor one of the mirror-image forms over the other. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis as the reasons for Soai's Nobel prize, which falls under the realm of chiral chemistry. During a press conference following his Nobel Prize announcement, Soai recalled his personal impression of crystals that may have been used by Pasteur during a visit to the Institut Pasteur in Paris. Chirality refers to the property of objects or molecules that look identical to their mirror image but cannot be stacked on top of one another, much like a person's right and left hands.",
  "summary": "Tokyo, Oct. 11 (Jiji Press)--An experiment by French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur in the mid-19th century had inspired 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Kenso Soai's research. Discovering a reaction known as the \"Soai reaction,\" the 76-year-old Japanese chemist, who is a professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, has worked to unravel the mystery of why substances suc...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}