Three scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2019, as John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino were on Wednesday named as the recipients of the award for the development of lithium-ion batteries.
The Nobel Prize Committee announcing on Wednesday, 9th October 2019, said: “Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized our lives and are used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles. Through their work, this year’s Chemistry Laureates have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil-fuel-free society.”
With the glory comes a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award to be shared, a gold medal and a diploma. The laureates receive them at an elegant ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10 the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896 together with five other Nobel winners. The sixth one, the peace prize, is handed out in Oslo, Norway, on the same day.
In the early 1970s, Stanley Whittingham used lithium’s enormous drive to release its outer electron when he developed the first functional lithium battery. In 1980, John Goodenough doubled the battery’s potential, creating the right conditions for a vastly more powerful and useful battery. In 1985, Akira Yoshino succeeded in eliminating pure lithium from the battery, instead of basing it wholly on lithium ions, which are safer than pure lithium. This made the battery workable in practice.
Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991. They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil-fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2019 was announced on Wednesday, a day after the Physics award was given to a Canadian-American cosmologist and two Swiss scientists.
On Monday, the award for Physiology or Medicine went to two Americans and one British scientist. And on Thursday come two literature laureates, while the coveted Nobel Peace Prize is Friday and the economics award on Monday.
The 2018 literature prize was suspended after a scandal rocked the Swedish Academy. The body plans to award it this year, along with announcing the 2019 laureate.#nobelprize