Stockholm: The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is set to be announced in Stockholm on Wednesday, with researchers and science communities waiting to learn which discovery or development will receive the award.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is scheduled to announce the prize at 11:45 am Central European Summer Time on Wednesday. The announcement will take place at the Academy's Session Hall in Stockholm.
No winner had been officially announced before the scheduled announcement. Researchers and science commentators have discussed several areas that could potentially receive recognition, but the Nobel committee's decision remains confidential until the official announcement.
Areas mentioned in scientific and media predictions include research related to appetite and sleep, gene editing, DNA sequencing, solar energy, electron movement in proteins and molecular structures that can change the properties of surfaces.
These are predictions and areas of scientific speculation, not an official list of Nobel nominees or finalists. Nobel nominations remain confidential for 50 years, meaning names discussed publicly as possible contenders cannot be treated as confirmed nominees.
The Chemistry prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Academy has been responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in Chemistry since 1901.
The announcement comes during a week of Nobel prizes that has already recognised major developments in medicine and physics.
On October 5, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries concerning light gated ion channels and optogenetics. Their work helped establish methods that allow scientists to control the activity of nerve cells using light.
On October 6, Belgian American physicist Francis Halzen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.
The Chemistry prize is the third Nobel award to be announced during this year's Nobel week.
Last year's Chemistry Nobel was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi for their development of metal organic frameworks. These molecular structures contain spaces that can capture and store gases and have potential applications in areas including environmental work and water harvesting.
Several researchers have attracted attention in predictions ahead of this year's announcement. They include scientists associated with research into GLP 1, self assembled molecular layers, electron transfer in proteins, solar cells, precision gene editing and DNA sequencing.
However, these researchers should not be described as official Nobel nominees or finalists. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences does not publicly disclose current nominations.
The Nobel prize amount for 2026 is 12 million Swedish kronor, about 1.2 million dollars. A Nobel Prize can be shared by up to three laureates.
The Chemistry announcement will be followed by the Nobel Prize in Literature on October 8 and the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced on October 12.
The announcement in Stockholm will reveal which scientific achievement has been selected for the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.