John Goodenough, oldest Nobel Prize winner, co-creator of revolutionary lithium battery, dies at 100

John Goodenough, the oldest living winner of the Nobel Prize, passed away at 100 on Sunday. Goodenough became the oldest winner of the prestigious award when he shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry at 97.

Goodenough won it for co-developing the revolutionary lithium-ion battery which has transformed technology as we know it today. The portable and rechargeable lithium batteries power devices like smartphones, computers, electric vehicles and pacemakers.

Goodenough died at an assisted living facility in Austin, the University of Texas said. No cause of death was shared. The scientist had been a part of the faculty at the university for nearly 4 decades.

He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize with British-born American scientist M. Stanley Whittingham and Japan's Akira Yoshino. The invention took over a decade. All three had unique breakthroughs that paved the platform for the development of a commercial rechargeable battery

“Live to 97 and you can do anything,” Goodenough had said on winning the Nobel. He had acknowledged being grateful that he wasn't forced to retire at 65.

The impact of the creation had even shocked Goodenough who had once said, “We thought it would be nice and help in a few things but never dreamed it would revolutionize electronics and everything else.”

Goodenough was born in Germany in 1922 but grew up in the United States. He earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of Chicago. Goodenough began his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His research at MIT had laid the foundation for development of random-access memory (RAM) for computers. He has also worked at the University of Oxford in England when he made his lithium-ion discovery. 

(Inputs from AP, PTI)