A Binghamton University professor has achieved the highest award for his work leading to the development of the lithium-ion battery. The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to M. Stanley Whittingham, a distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science.

According to Binghamton University, Whittingham won the prize for pioneering research along with John B. Goodenough, Virginia H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University in Japan.

In his 30-plus year career, Whittingham has been a pioneer in the development of lithium-ion batteries and his work has been called foundational by colleagues at all levels. He holds the original patent on the concept of the use of intercalation chemistry in high-power density, highly reversible lithium batteries – work that provided the basis for subsequent discoveries that now power most laptop computers — and his research has been called ‘world-leading.’

 

Since joining the faculty at Binghamton (in 1988) , Whittingham has sustained his ground-breaking research. The professor adds the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to two other major awards in recent years: in 2002, he was honored with the Battery Research Award of the Electrochemical Society for his many contributions to “Intercalation Chemistry and Battery Materials,” and two years later he was elected a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society.

 

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