John Goodenough, a legendary figure in chemistry who became the world’s oldest Nobel laureate when he was honored in 2019, has passed away at the age of 101. The news was shared by the University of Texas and confirmed by multiple scholarly outlets, marking the end of a career that reshaped modern energy storage and portable electronics. His work reached from university laboratories to the devices people carry every day, influencing how we power mobile technology, electric vehicles, and hybrid cars across North America and beyond.
Goodenough’s most celebrated achievement centers on the development of key materials that enabled lithium-ion batteries to deliver high energy density while maintaining stability and safety. In a landmark discovery from 1979, his team showed that a rechargeable battery could achieve exceptional energy capacity without relying on lithium metal for the anode. By pairing a lithium cobalt oxide cathode with a carbon-based anode, they laid the groundwork for a safer, more controllable form of lithium-ion storage. This breakthrough unlocked longer-lasting power for consumer electronics such as phones, laptops, and tablets, and it opened pathways for reliable energy storage in electric and hybrid vehicles. The practical impact of this research accelerated the adoption of portable electronics and set the stage for a cleaner transportation landscape in the United States and Canada, where demand for efficient, durable batteries has only grown since the 1980s.
Beyond the core chemistry, Goodenough’s contributions helped define a field. The collaboration with his peers and the iterative improvements in electrode materials and cell architectures propelled commercial innovations. The first commercially viable lithium-ion battery emerged from this line of work in collaboration with corporate partners, with the groundwork taking shape through the 1980s and early 1990s. Sony’s early production of lithium-ion cells in 1991, leveraging insights from Whittingham and Goodenough, marked a turning point in how portable energy could be stored and used across diverse devices. This trajectory not only transformed consumer electronics but also spurred the growth of electric mobility and energy storage solutions that address climate and energy goals in North America and around the world. Attribution for these milestones is commonly traced to the collaborative efforts of multiple researchers and organizations, whose collective work has shaped the way batteries are designed, manufactured, and deployed today, especially in markets that demand high performance, reliability, and safety in energy storage systems.