The 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded for developing the world’s smallest machines, the BBC reports.

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L Feringa will share the 8m kronor (£727,000) prize for the design and synthesis of machines on a molecular scale.

They were named at a press conference in Sweden.

The winners join a prestigious list of 200 other Physics laureates recognised since 1901.