2019 Nobel prize in chemistry awarded to John B Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, Akira Yoshino for work on lithium-ion batteries

Pic courtesy: Twitter/@NobelPrize

The 2019 Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for their pioneering work in developing lithium-ion batteries. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm announced on Wednesday that John B Goodenough of the University of Texas at Austin, M Stanley Whittingham of Binghamton University and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University will receive equal shares of the 9 million Swedish kronor (£74o,000) prize. The 97-year-old Goodenough is the oldest person to receive a Nobel prize in any discipline. 

“The batteries no longer weight two tonnes, but 300kg. The ability to store energy from renewable sources, the sun, the wind, opens up for sustainable energy consumption,” Prof Sara Snogerup Linse, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, was quoted as saying by Guardian.

Prof Mark Miodownik, a materials expert at University College London, welcomed the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' decision and said, “They are one of the most influential pieces of materials science that influence the modern life of everyone on the planet. It remarkable too that although 30 years old, they have not been eclipsed by a better battery technology even now, which makes you realise what a remarkable discovery they are,” he said.

"Lithium-ion batteries are used globally to power the portable electronics that we use to communicate, work, study, listen to music and search for knowledge. Lithiumion batteries have also enabled the development of long-range electric cars and the storage of energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power," Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a press release.