ניצול שואה צרפתי זוכה בפרס נובל לכימיה

הערכה

A 94 year old French chemist who survived the Holocaust has received chemistry's highest honor. Henri Kagan's work on asymmetric synthesis lets scientists produce specific mirror image molecules, which matters enormously for pharmaceutical safety. Left and right handed versions of the same molecule can have radically different effects in the body. The Nobel committee recognized the practical impact of making the correct version reliably.