Nobel prize: Chemistry

The 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, announced as Science News was going to press, recognizes the development of molecules for catalyzing fundamental reactions used

to make countless pharmaceuticals. Many molecules, like gloves, exist in distinct

left- and right-handed forms. The winners’ catalysts enable chemists to make only

the desired form of a product.

William S. Knowles, a chemist retired from Monsanto in St.