Trio wins Nobel prize for developing lithium-ion batteries

• Goodenough, is the oldest laurete to receive a Nobel prize in any discipline.
• The three scientists will receive equal shares of the £740,000 prize.
• Whittingham is the second British-born researcher to win a science Nobel this year.

(Karachi) Three scientists received Nobel prize in Chemistry for developing lithium-ion batteries, local media reported on Wednesday.

Those who shared the award are John B Goodenough of the University of Texas at Austin, M Stanley Whittingham of Binghamton University and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University. The trio will receive equal shares of the nine million Swedish kronor (£740,000) prize, which was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.

Good enough, 97, is the oldest laurete to receive a Nobel prize in any discipline, while Whittingham is the second British-born researcher to win a science Nobel this year.

The breakthrough

Lithium-ion batteries have long been tipped for the award, not least since they have proved pivotal in the development of the high-tech world we inhabit. Far lighter-weight and more compact than earlier types of rechargeable battery, they are found in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric cars.

This is the 111th Nobel prize in chemistry – the first was awarded in 1901. Only five women have been awarded the prize, and only one person – Frederick Sanger – has won it twice (although Marie Curie and Linus Pauling both won a Nobel prize in chemistry and a Nobel prize in another category).

Earlier this week, William Kaelin, Sir Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza won the 2019 Noble prize in Physiology for their work on understanding how cells adapt to low levels of oxygen, and the physics prize was shared between James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for their work on cosmology and the discovery of the first exoplanet.