The winners of the Nobel Prize for chemistry on Wednesday didn't make a ground-breaking discovery per se, but they did make the work of current and future chemists much easier while perhaps paving the way for future breakthroughs in the discipline.

Combining Newton's classical physics and quantum physics, Martin Karplus (Harvard and France), Michael Levitt (Stanford) and Arieh Warshel (USC) designed computer models to more accurately predict and analyze complex chemical reactions, according to the press release. Previously, chemists tended to rely on lab work to study the process and outcomes of such interactions.

As per the press release, the three scientists won "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems." Their victory counters the predictions of Nobel Prize-predicting juggernaut Thomas Reuters.

"Computers have become just as important in chemistry labs as test tubes," said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, whose approximate 600 members select the chemistry winner (s) each year, during the awards ceremony, according to CNN.

Since the program predicts how chemicals will react, it will decrease the need for the animal testing, according to CNN.

Karplus, Levitt's, and Warshel's user-friendly computer model is also useful for studying fast or unpredictable reactions, reported CNN.

"Molecules are lazy creatures. Most of the time they don't do anything," said Gunnar Karlstrom of the Royal Academy. "They just swing around and don't do anything, and then suddenly, when they react, everything goes quick, like that."

When such reactions do occur, the prize-winning model slows it down so researchers can more closely study the process.

The three chemists will share the prize money of $1.2 million dollars, reported CNN.

Up Thursday is the prize for literature. Bob Dylan fans, don't get your hopes up.