Molecular machines earn three chemists a Nobel prize

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry to three men whose research led to the development of “molecular machines.” Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Scottish-born Fraser Stoddart, and Dutch scientist Bernard “Ben” Feringa all worked on developing tiny motors that enabled the development of other advanced technology. Stoddart, 74, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., developed a molecule-based computer chip with 20 kB of memory. Feringa, a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, lead a team that built a “nonocar,” with four molecular motor wheels. Sauvage, professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, is credited with being the first to link two ring-shaped molecules together to form a chain in 1983.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.