A second’s thought, please, for John B. Goodenough – the professor of engineering who gained a Nobel Prize for growth of the lithium-ion batteries which energy most of our transportable units.
He was additionally notable for his earlier work on the expertise which made potential random entry reminiscence (RAM). Goodenough died on Sunday, aged 100 …
John B. Goodenough, professor at The College of Texas at Austin who is thought all over the world for the event of the lithium-ion battery, died Sunday on the age of 100. Goodenough was a devoted public servant, a sought-after mentor and a superb but humble inventor.
His discovery led to the wi-fi revolution and put digital units within the fingers of individuals worldwide. In 2019, Goodenough made nationwide and worldwide headlines after being awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his battery work, an award a lot of his followers thought of a very long time coming, particularly as he grew to become the oldest particular person to obtain a Nobel Prize.
“John’s legacy as a superb scientist is immeasurable — his discoveries improved the lives of billions of individuals all over the world,” mentioned UT Austin President Jay Hartzell. “He was a pacesetter on the reducing fringe of scientific analysis all through the numerous a long time of his profession, and he by no means ceased trying to find modern energy-storage options. John’s work and dedication to our mission are the last word reflection of our aspiration as Longhorns — that what begins right here adjustments the world — and he might be vastly missed amongst our UT neighborhood.”
Goodenough served as a college member within the Cockrell Faculty of Engineering for 37 years, holding the Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair of Engineering and college positions within the Walker Division of Mechanical Engineering and the Chandra Household Division of Electrical and Laptop Engineering. All through his tenure, his analysis continued to concentrate on battery supplies and handle basic solid-state science and engineering issues to create the subsequent technology of rechargeable batteries.
“Not solely was John an incredible researcher, he was additionally a beloved and extremely regarded instructor. He took nice pleasure in being a mentor to many graduate college students and college members who benefitted from his knowledge and encouragement,” mentioned Provost Sharon L. Wooden. “The world has misplaced an unimaginable thoughts and beneficiant spirit. He might be actually missed among the many scientific and engineering neighborhood, however he leaves an enduring legacy that may encourage generations of future innovators and researchers. I’m honored to have identified and labored with John.”
Goodenough recognized and developed the essential cathode supplies that supplied the high-energy density wanted to energy electronics resembling cellphones, laptops and tablets, in addition to electrical and hybrid automobiles. In 1979, he and his analysis staff discovered that by utilizing lithium cobalt oxide because the cathode of a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, it could be potential to realize a excessive density of saved vitality with an anode apart from metallic lithium. This discovery led to the event of carbon-based supplies that enable for the usage of secure and manageable adverse electrodes in lithium-ion batteries.
“John was merely a tremendous particular person — a really nice researcher, instructor, mentor and innovator,” mentioned Roger Bonnecaze, dean of the Cockrell Faculty. “His pleasure and care in all he did, and that outstanding snort, had been infectious and provoking. What an impactful life he led!”
Born in 1922 in Germany, Goodenough grew up within the northeastern United States and attended the Groton Faculty in Massachusetts. In 1944, he earned a bachelor’s diploma in arithmetic from Yale College. After serving as a meteorologist within the U.S. Military, Goodenough returned to finish a grasp’s diploma and Ph.D., in 1952, each in physics from the College of Chicago. On the College of Chicago, he studied below Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi and John A. Simpson, each of whom labored on the Manhattan Venture. His doctoral adviser was famend physicist Clarence Zener.
Goodenough started his profession on the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise’s Lincoln Laboratory in 1952, the place he labored for twenty-four years and laid the groundwork for the event of random-access reminiscence (RAM) for the digital laptop. He emerged as a pioneer of orbital physics and one of many founders of the trendy principle of magnetism, which grew to become referred to as the Goodenough-Kanamori Guidelines. These guidelines present a sensible steering within the analysis of magnetic supplies and have a big impact in creating units in telecommunications.
After MIT, Goodenough grew to become a professor and head of the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory on the College of Oxford. Throughout this time, he made the lithium-ion discovery.
He got here to UT Austin in 1986, getting down to develop the subsequent battery breakthrough and educate the subsequent battery innovators. In 1991, Sony Corp. commercialized the lithium-ion battery, for which Goodenough supplied the muse for a prototype. In 1996, a safer and extra environmentally pleasant cathode materials was found in his analysis group, and, in 2020, a Canadian hydroelectric energy firm acquired the patents for this newest battery.
“John’s seven a long time of dedication to science and expertise dramatically altered our life-style, and it was actually a privilege to get to work with him for therefore a few years,” mentioned Ram Manthiram, professor within the Cockrell Faculty who was a longtime buddy and affiliate of Goodenough’s and joined him at UT within the Eighties. Manthiram, a battery pioneer in his personal proper, delivered the Nobel lecture in Stockholm on behalf of Goodenough. “John was one of many best minds of our time and is an inspiration. He was a very good listener with love and respect for everybody. I’ll at all times cherish our time collectively, and we’ll proceed to construct on the muse John established.”
In 2022, in honor of his a centesimal birthday, scientists and engineers within the world battery and solid-state science communities got here collectively on the UT Austin campus for a symposium to share tales of Goodenough’s affect and talk about difficult issues in condensed matter physics and chemistry and the subsequent technology of battery analysis.
Goodenough’s fast wit and infectious snort had been defining traits that influenced the extent of fame he obtained. That snort might be heard reverberating by way of UT engineering buildings — you knew when Goodenough was in your ground, and also you couldn’t assist however smile on the considered working into him.
He was nonetheless coming into work properly into his 90s. For him, there was no cause to not. “Don’t retire too early!” Goodenough instructed the Nobel Basis and others. It was recommendation he ceaselessly gave and definitely adopted.
Goodenough, who by no means had youngsters of his personal, was captivated with giving to the College. He ceaselessly donated the financial prizes from his awards to UT, serving to to assist engineering graduate college students and researchers. In 2006, he established the John B. and Irene W. Goodenough Endowed Analysis Fund in Engineering, and in 2016, in honor of his spouse, Irene, he established the Irene W. Goodenough Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Nursing. As well as, St. Catherine’s Faculty on the College of Oxford established the Goodenough Fellowship in Chemistry in his honor.
Amongst his many recognitions, together with the Nobel Prize — which he was awarded collectively with Stanley Whittingham of the State College of New York at Binghamton and Akira Yoshino of Meijo College — Goodenough was the recipient of the Nationwide Medal of Science, the Japan Prize, the Charles Stark Draper Prize, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Enrico Fermi Award, the Robert A. Welch Award, the Copley Medal and lots of others. He authored a number of books, together with an autobiography titled “Witness to Grace,” revealed in 2008.
