Kenichi Fukui(福井 謙一,Fukui Ken'ichi; October 4, 1918 – January 9, 1998)was a Japanesechemist.He became the first person of East Asian ancestry to be awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistrywhen he won the 1981 prize withRoald Hoffmann, for their independent investigations intothe mechanismsofchemical reactions. Fukui's prize-winning work focused on the role offrontier orbitalsin chemical reactions: specifically that molecules share loosely bonded electrons which occupy the frontier orbitals, that is, the Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital (HOMO) and the Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital (LUMO). Fields: Chemistry