Inspenet, June 28, 2023.
“Live to be 97 and you can do anything”, were Goodenough’s words after receiving the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019.
John B. Goodenough, the Nobel Prize-winning engineer whose contributions revolutionized wearable technology by developing lithium-ion batteries , has died at the age of 100.
A statement issued Monday by the University of Texas at Austin, where Goodenough was a member for 37 years, reported that the scientist passed away on June 25. However, the cause of his death has not yet been revealed.
In the aforementioned statement, Jay Hartzell, president of UT Austin, said: “John’s legacy as a brilliant scientist is incalculable: his discoveries have improved the lives of billions of people around the world.”
Goodenough’s trajectory
John Goodenough is credited with the significant discovery and development in the 1980s of materials that enabled the development of a more stable and powerful rechargeable battery.
In 2019, when he was 97 years old, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for their contribution to the development of lithium-ion batteries . This achievement made him the oldest recipient.
According to a Nobel committee announcement, the trio’s individual advances in battery technology “have created a rechargeable world” where portable electronic devices such as cell phones and computers have become ubiquitous across the globe.
Likewise, this innovation has laid the foundations for the development of long-range electric vehicles and the storage of renewable energy.
In addition to his outstanding research work, Goodenough was recognized as a highly regarded mentor and professor at UT Austin, the university reported.
“John was not only an outstanding researcher, but also a beloved and respected teacher. He took pride in mentoring numerous graduate students and faculty members who benefited from his wisdom and support,” Sharon L. Wood, PhD, said in a statement. Chancellor of UT Austin.
Goodenough received various prestigious awards, such as the National Medal of Science, the Enrico Fermi Award, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, among others.
Born in Germany in 1922, Goodenough grew up in the northeastern United States and earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yale University. After serving in the US Army as a meteorologist, he completed an M.A. and Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago in 1952. His career began that same year at the Lincoln Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During his 24-year tenure at MIT, Goodenough was one of the key researchers in the development of random access memory (RAM) used in laptop and desktop computers.
In 1976 he became Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford, where he made his breakthrough in the field of lithium-ion batteries. A decade later, he joined the faculty at UT Austin.
“His laughter could be heard echoing through the UT engineering buildings: you knew when Goodenough was on site and couldn’t help but smile at the thought of running into him,” is part of the aforementioned statement.
In 2016 he established the Irene W. Goodenough Presidential Scholarship for Nursing in honor of his wife who passed away that same year and to whom he was married for more than 70 years.
In addition, he created the John B. and Irene W. Goodenough Endowed Research Fund in Engineering, and the St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University established a Goodenough Scholarship in Chemistry in his honour.
“John was just an incredible person – a truly exceptional researcher, teacher, mentor and innovator,” said Roger Bonnecaze, dean of the UT Austin Cockrell School of Engineering. “Her joy and dedication to everything she did, and that remarkable laugh, were contagious and inspiring,” she added.
Source and photo: https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2023/06/27/muere-john-goodenough-premio-nobel-desarrollo-baterias-litio-100-anos-trax/
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