The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986 was awarded jointly to Dudley R. Herschbach, Yuan T. Lee and John C. Polanyi "for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes".
 

Their research has been of great importance for the development of a new field of research in chemistry - reaction dynamics - and has provided a much more detailed understanding of how chemical reactions take place.
 

Dudley R. Herschbach has developed the method of crossed molecular beams, directed and well-defined fluxes of molecules, to and beyond the point where detailed studies of chemical reactions have been possible. He has also elucidated the dynamics of the basic types of reaction. Yuan T. Lee, who initially worked in cooperation with Herschbach, has developed the method of crossed molecular beams further towards its use for general reactions. Most notably, he has used this method for the study of important reactions for relatively large molecules. John C. Polanyi has developed the method of infrared chemiluminescence, in which the extremely weak infrared emission from a newly formed molecule is measured and analysed. He has used this method to elucidate the detailed energy disposal during chemical reactions.