Henri B. Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for their work on asymmetric organic synthesis. The Nobel Committee cited their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in the field, saying their research addressed a century-old mystery about how mirror-image molecules emerge in nature and the asymmetry of life.

Kagan’s work in the 1980s suggested how chemical reactions could favor one mirror-image form. Years later, Soai developed a reaction that produced just one form.

Because mirror-image molecules can behave differently in living systems, controlling which form a reaction produces matters in drug design. The formal award ceremony was set to take place in Stockholm, Sweden.