John Goodenough, creator of lithium-ion batteries, dies at 100

Goodenough shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his significant contribution to creating the innovative lithium-ion battery. This rechargeable energy source powers most modern portable electronic devices and electric and hybrid cars.

News of Goodenough’s death was announced by the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a professor of engineering. He passed away on Sunday. According to the New York Times, Goodenough was largely unknown outside scientific and academic circles and the corporate giants who used his work before news broke about his choice as a Nobel laureate.

At Oxford University, he made the laboratory discovery that led to the development of smartphones, laptops, and tablets in the 1980s. In addition, its batteries have been used in clean, quiet plug-in vehicles, like many Teslas, that can be driven on long trips, reduce the effects of climate change, and may one day replace gasoline-powered cars and trucks.

In addition, batteries from it have also been used in life-saving medical devices such as cardiac defibrillators.