The 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded jointly to researchers Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced this morning in Stockholm.

"They have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added," the organization said in a statement.

Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobel prizes after the medicine and physics laureates were announced on Monday and Tuesday.

The prize is named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will.

(CBA)