The Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2016 was awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J. Fraser Stoddard and Ben Feringa for the development of molecular machines. The three researchers designed molecules with subunits that move relative to each other in a controlled manner. Some of their molecules can, for example under influence of light, fulfill work. The laureates laid the foundation for nanoscopic motors, like molecular escalators, molecular muscles and nanocars and are considered as founders of a new field in chemistry. Their functional molecules are believed to have a large potential and it is expected that they become useful some day in nanomedicine or as intelligent materials.