Trio wins Nobel chemistry prize for 'world's smallest machines'

J. Fraser Stoddart, one of the winners of 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, raises his glass for a toast at Northwestern University in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, U.S., October 5, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young

A trio of European scientists has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing molecular machines that could one day be injected to fight cancer or used to make new types of materials and energy storage devices.

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Scotland's J. Fraser Stoddart and Dutchman Bernard Feringa developed molecules that produce mechanical motion in response to a stimulus, allowing them to perform specific tasks, the Nobel Academy said on Wednesday in awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($931,000) prize.