John B. Goodenough
Winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
John B. Goodenough, who holds the Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair of Engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering, has been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry — jointly with Stanley Whittingham of the State University of New York at Binghamton and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University — “for the development of lithium-ion batteries.”
In the words of the Nobel Foundation, “Through their work, they have created the right conditions for a wireless and fossil fuel-free society, and so brought the greatest benefit to humankind.”
Goodenough, who was born in 1922, identified and developed the critical materials that provided the high-energy density needed to power portable electronics, initiating the wireless revolution. Today, batteries incorporating Goodenough’s cathode materials are used worldwide for mobile phones, power tools, laptops, tablets and other wireless devices, as well as electric and hybrid vehicles.
UT Press Conference
On October 14, UT Austin held a press conference that welcomed Goodenough home from London, where he was at the time of the Nobel announcement, and offered local media the opportunity to interview him.
John Goodenough - Changing the World
See how a visionary investment in The University of Texas at Austin brought John B. Goodenough to UT, where his work continues.
10 Fast Facts About John Goodenough
He still comes to work in his lab every day — and has a laugh that can be heard reverberating through the halls of Texas Engineering buildings. Listen
He has authored several books, including an autobiography titled “Witness to Grace.”
He served in WWII as an Army meteorologist.
Goodenough began his career at MIT, where he laid the groundwork for the development of random-access memory (RAM) for the digital computer.
Sony commercialized the battery with his materials in 1991.
He is the recipient of the Japan Prize, the Charles Stark Draper Prize, the National Medal of Science, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Enrico Fermi Award, the Welch Award, the Copley Medal and many others.
Goodenough was born in Germany in 1922. His students wish him Happy Birthday every year with a cake and celebration. (His birthday is July 25.)
The Royal Society of Chemistry grants an award in his honor, the John B. Goodenough Award for contributions in materials chemistry.
At the University of Chicago — where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees — he studied under Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi and John A. Simpson, both of whom worked on the Manhattan Project.
One of his frequent pieces of advice is to not retire too early. Listen to his conversation with the Nobel Foundation
The Inventor
UT engineer John Goodenough changed our lives with his pioneering battery research — and he isn’t done yet.
Read more in UT’s alumni magazine, The Alcalde
