STOCKHOLM (AP) — If you’re reading this on a cellphone or laptop computer, you might thank this year’s
three winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on lithium-ion batteries.
The batteries developed by the British, American and Japanese winners are far more revolutionary than
just for on-the-go computing and calling. The breakthroughs they achieved also made storing energy from
renewable sources more feasible, opening up a whole new front in the fight against global warming.
"This is a highly charged story of tremendous potential," quipped Olof Ramstrom of the Nobel
committee for chemistry.
The prize announced Wednesday went to John B. Goodenough, 97, an American engineering professor at the
University of Texas; M. Stanley Whittingham, 77, a British-American chemistry professor at the State
University of New York at Binghamton, and Akira Yoshino, 71, of chemicals company Asahi Kasei Corp. and
Meijo University in Japan.
The three scientists were honored for a truly transformative technology that has permeated billions of
lives across the planet, including anyone who uses cellphones, computers, pacemakers, electric cars and
beyond.
"The heart of the phone is the rechargeable battery. The heart of the electric vehicle is the
rechargeable battery. The success and failure of so many new technologies depends on the
batteries," said Alexej Jerschow, a chemist at New York University, whose research focuses on
lithium-ion battery diagnostics.
Goodenough, who is considered an intellectual giant of solid state chemistry and physics, is the oldest
person to ever win a Nobel Prize — edging Arthur Ashkin, who was 96 when he was awarded the Nobel for
physics last year.
Goodenough still works every day and said he is grateful he was not forced to retire at age 65. "So
I’ve had an extra 33 years to keep working," he told reporters in London.
Whittingham expressed hope the Nobel spotlight could give new impetus to efforts to meet the world’s
ravenous — and growing — demands for energy.
"I am overcome with gratitude at receiving this award, and I honestly have so many people to thank,
I don’t know where to begin," he said in a statement issued by his university. "It is my hope
that this recognition will help to shine a much-needed light on the nation’s energy future."
The three laureates each had unique breakthroughs that cumulatively laid the foundation for the
development of a commercial rechargeable battery to replace alkaline batteries containing lead, nickel
or zinc that had their origins in the 19th century.
Lithium-ion batteries are the first truly portable and rechargeable batteries, and took more than a
decade to develop. Their discovery drew upon the work of multiple scientists in the U.S., Japan and
around the world.
The work had its roots in the oil crisis in the 1970s. Whittingham, who had researched superconductors at
Stanford University, was hired by Exxon at a time when the petroleum giant was investing in research
into other fields of energy amid concerns about depleting oil reserves.
Exxon gave researchers like him "the freedom to do pretty much what they wanted as long as it did
not involve petroleum," the Nobel committee said.
In his work, Whittingham harnessed the enormous tendency of lithium — the lightest metal — to give away
its electrons to make a battery capable of generating just over two volts. Lithium, of all the elements,
"is the one that most willingly releases electrons," the committee said.
By 1980, building on Whittingham’s work, Goodenough had doubled the capacity of the battery to four volts
by using cobalt oxide in the cathode — one of two electrodes, along with the anode, that make up the
ends of a battery.
But that battery remained too explosive for general commercial use. That’s where Yoshino’s work in the
1980s came in. He eliminated the volatile pure lithium from the battery, and instead opted for lithium
ions that are safer.
Yoshino substituted petroleum coke, a carbon material, in the battery’s anode. This step paved the way
for the first lightweight, safe, durable and rechargeable commercial batteries to be built and enter the
market in 1991.
"We have gained access to a technical revolution," said Sara Snogerup Linse of the Nobel
committee for chemistry, alluding to the environmental benefits of the discoveries. "The ability to
store energy from renewable sources — the sun, the wind — opens up for sustainable energy
consumption."
Whittingham said he had no inkling that his work decades ago would have such a profound impact.
"We thought it would be nice and help in a few things, but never dreamed it would revolutionize
electronics and everything else," he told The Associated Press. He called the prize
"recognition for the whole field."
"Hundreds of people have worked on lithium-ion batteries, and I think people felt that they were
being overlooked," he said. "We’re hoping this will push the field further and faster."
The trio will share a 9-million kronor ($918,000) cash award. Their gold medals and diplomas will be
conferred in Stockholm on Dec. 10 — the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.
The announcement came on the third day of Nobel week.
On Tuesday, Canadian-American James Peebles won the Nobel physics prize for his theoretical discoveries
in cosmology together with Swiss scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, who were honored for finding
an exoplanet — a planet outside our solar system — that orbits a solar-type star.
Americans William G. Kaelin Jr. and Gregg L. Semenza and Britain’s Peter J. Ratcliffe won the Nobel for
advances in physiology or medicine on Monday. They were cited for their discoveries of "how cells
sense and adapt to oxygen availability."
Two Nobel literature laureates are to be announced Thursday — one for 2018 and one for 2019 — because
last year’s award was suspended after a sex-abuse scandal rocked the Swedish Academy. The coveted Nobel
Peace Prize is Friday and the economics award will be announced on Monday.
Yoshino said he mistakenly thought there might be a long wait before the Nobel committee turned to his
specialty. He broke the news to his wife, who was just as surprised as he.
"I only spoke to her briefly and said, ‘I got it,’ and … she was so surprised that her knees
almost gave way," he told reporters in Tokyo.
The laureates said the field and its applications are still a work in progress, and they want to keep at
it.
Yoshino said lithium-ion batteries could have greater application in the ocean and space, but that
further research and development are needed to adapt them to other gadgets and purposes.
"Lithium-ion itself is still full of unknowns," he said.
The prize turned out to be a bit of a family affair among the researchers: Yoshino said he visits
Goodenough nearly every year in Texas.
"For him, I’m like his son," the Japanese laureate said. "He takes very good care of
me."
Goodenough, in his own way, seemed to return the favor, telling reporters in London that in all of his 97
years: "What am I most proud of? I don’t know, I would say all my friends."
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Keaten reported from Geneva. Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark; Mari Yamaguchi
in Tokyo; Jill Lawless in London; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; and AP Science Writer Christina
Larson in Washington contributed to this report.
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Read more stories on the 2019 Nobel Prizes by The Associated Press at https://www.apnews.com/NobelPrizes
