Battery technology was revolutionised by Dr John Goodenough, a distinguished scientist who has since gone away and made an irreplaceable contribution to the area. This important person, who lived to the amazing age of 100, has officially passed away, according to the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Goodenough, who is credited with inventing the lithium-ion battery and is widely regarded as its inventor’s brilliance, was instrumental in making electric cars, computers, and mobile phones possible and usable.
Despite prior studies with lithium batteries, it was Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham who had achieved advancements by fusing lithium with titanium disulfide. But as The New York Times noted, Dr. Goodenough was the one who made a revolutionary breakthrough in 1980 while working on a study at the University of Oxford.
He was successful in creating a cathode with layers of lithium and cobalt oxide that not only produced a greater voltage but also considerably improved safety precautions. Compared to its predecessors, such lead-acid batteries used in vehicles and nickel-cadmium batteries frequently seen in portable electronic gadgets, these batteries had significantly higher capacity.
When Dr. Akira Yoshino made the critical choice to go from raw lithium to safer lithium ions, the course of technology changed dramatically. This decision prompted Asahi Kasei Corporation to create a useful design, which ultimately led to Sony’s revolutionary 1991 release of the first user-friendly rechargeable lithium-ion battery.
The results were drastic: mobile gadgets improved dramatically, either becoming more portable or opening up totally new possibilities. The design, speed, and battery life of smartphones and computers have improved.
A realistic and ecological alternative, electric automobiles are now made possible by this development.
The achievements of Dr. Goodenough, however, go well beyond this area. He performed a leading role in developing the technology that would later develop into the random access memory (RAM) utilised in many modern computer devices during his time at MIT in the 1950s and 1960s.
He frequently worked together on creative ideas and shared patents with others.
Even into his 90s, Dr. Goodenough’s enthusiasm for research didn’t waver as he investigated cutting-edge battery technologies that offered exceptional performance for alternative energy and electric cars.
Dr. Goodenough’s tremendous accomplishments were acknowledged, yet he was mostly unknown to the general public. Prestigious honours, such as the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 2011 US National Medal of Science, were given in recognition of his ground-breaking efforts.
These honours attested to his outstanding knowledge and undeniable influence on the scientific world.
