John Goodenough, who in 2019 was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of his visionary work in developing the lithium-ion battery, has died at the age of 100.which today is in full expansion thanks to the rise of electric vehicles.
Born in Germany and raised in the United States, he dedicated his life to scientific research, being a fellow at the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 24 years, then a professor at Oxford University for 10 years, and finally a fellow from the University of Texas for 37 years, quite a career.
In its early days, lithium batteries were a problem due to their instability. After studying many metal oxides, in 1980 Goodenough identified and developed cobalt oxide as the material of choice for the cathode of lithium-ion batteries.something that allowed Sony to start marketing them in 1991 and that today they are in almost all portable devices and electric cars.
Goodenough was the good enough to deserve to be the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize when he shared the prize with the team that accompanied him in much of his discoveries, made up of the British-born American scientist Stanley Whittingham and the Japanese Akira Yoshino.
A few years ago, he also contributed to the development of a solid-state lithium-ion battery. It outperforms lithium-ion batteries in energy density, operating temperature range, and safety.
Goodenough and his wife, Irene, were married for 70 years until he was widowed in 2016. This chemist will be remembered as one of the main architects in the technological transformation that today allows us to take energy wherever we go.
