John Bannister Goodenough, the mastermind behind the lithium-ion batteries found in nearly every electronic device today, has passed away. Goodenough’s death was announced by the University of Texas, where he served.
Born on July 25, 1922, Goodenough died at the assisted living facility in Austin, where he had been for a while before turning 101.
The success of John Goodenough that made his name known to the world:
Before Goodenough won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019, he was not well known outside of the academic world. But many of today’s tools are made possible thanks to the inventions and work behind Goodenough.
Goodenough produced the lithium-ion battery that powers today’s phones, computers and even electric vehicles at Oxford University in 1980. Of course, this invention has evolved over the years, along with other studies in the scientific world, to today’s batteries.
Moreover, although Goodenough was the first to lay the concrete foundation for lithium-ion batteries, he did not make a profit from it. He only got paid as a scientist and professor. He opened all his rights to use and shared his patents with his colleagues.
In his last years, he was working on a “super battery” that could store and transport wind, solar and nuclear energy, and that would introduce possibilities such as unlimited travel and recharging in minutes.
Before lithium-ion batteries, especially zinc-carbon batteries and nickel-cadmium batteries were common all over the world. Lithium-ion batteries allowed faster charging, lower weight, easier maintenance and lower costs.
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