Desk Report
Published: 06 Oct 2021, 04:38 pm
A total of 187 individuals have received the chemistry prize since it was first awarded in 1901 || Photo: Collected
Two scientists have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in
Chemistry for their work on building molecules that are mirror images of one
another.
German-born Benjamin List and Briton David MacMillan were
announced as the winners at an event in Stockholm.
Their chemical toolkit has been used in the development
of new drugs and to make molecules that can capture light in solar cells.
The winners will share the prize money of 10 million
krona (£842,611).
Commenting on this year's award, Nobel Committee member
Prof Peter Somfai, from Sweden's Lund University, said: "We have a new
tool in organic chemistry, and this is of the greatest benefit to humankind."
The Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel founded the prizes
in his will, written a year before his death in 1896.
A total of 187 individuals have received the chemistry
prize since it was first awarded in 1901.
Only seven of these laureates have been women. One
person, the British biochemist Frederick Sanger, won the prize twice - in 1958
and 1980.
The country that has had most chemistry laureates is the United States, with 72 winners. Germany and the UK share second place with 34 laureates each. (BCC)