Herschbach came to Harvard in 1963 as a full professor and continued his work. Lee took a fellowship here a few years later, and the two developed and performed the experiments that lead to the awarding of the Nobel Prize.

In announcing the award, The Swedish Academy of Science said the three recipients had "provided a much more detailed understanding of how chemical reactions take place."

"His work has set the paradigm of what much of chemical physics has followed," said Chemistry Department Chairman George M. Whitesides, professor of chemistry.

"[The three Nobel laureates] invented chemical physics," Whitesides said.

Herschbach, Polyani and their colleagues stress that the techniques they developed are still too young to yield practical applications.

However, because the approach reveals the essential transformations of chemical reactions, it will likely help scientists develop catalysts to facilitate a wide variety of reactions, chemists said.

"Combustion, that's what this is about, putting engines in cars that burn oil more effectively. This is about improving all manner of processes that require chemical reactions," said Henry Schaefer, a professor of chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley.

Donald J. Ciappenelli, the director of the chemical laboratories here, called Herschbach "a chemist's chemist," and said it is too soon to know how others will apply his work.

"Usually, for such fundamental discoveries, it takes the rest of the world years to see what they've got," said Ciappenelli, who said Herschbach's work could prove to be as significant as the development of the transistor.

The development of synthetic medicines and fuels, the restoration of the ozone layer and the fight against air polution were mentioned as possible uses of the Nobel-copping research.

Scientists stressed though, that the research the three chemists pioneered during the 1960s is still in its early stages.

Since their initial discoveries, Lee and Polyani have continued to refine and broaden their experimental techniques, colleagues said. They said the work also has a strong attraction for young scientists.

For his part, Herschbach devoted much of his scholarly work to "highly theoretical" consideration of molecular behavior.

"He's talking about moving molecules around in some [imagined] number of dimensions," Wilson said. "It isn't as heady as it sounds, and it may be very useful."