WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2019 — On behalf of the American Chemical Society (ACS), President Bonnie Charpentier, Ph.D., congratulates today’s winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry: John B. Goodenough, Ph.D., the University of Texas at Austin; M. Stanley Whittingham, Ph.D., Binghamton University, State University of New York; and Akira Yoshino, Ph.D., Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University (Japan). The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize “for the development of lithium-ion batteries.”

“In this, the International Year of the Periodic Table, I am so thrilled that three of our members, with almost a century of combined ACS membership, have been honored with the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their invention and development of the lithium-ion battery,” says Charpentier. “In the face of increasing threats from extreme climate change, today’s announcement shines a welcome bright light on the portability of energy that has enabled unprecedented advances in communication, transportation and other tools to support critical aspects of life around the world.”

Goodenough has been a member of ACS for 44 years. Whittingham has been a member of ACS for 46 years, and in the past has served as chair of the Binghamton Local Section and on the Member Committee on the Petroleum Research Fund. Yoshino has been a member of ACS for eight years.

Both Goodenough and Whittingham have published articles in some of ACS’ 60 peer-reviewed journals. In addition, news articles on the work have appeared in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS’ weekly newsmagazine. Goodenough was recently featured in a C&EN podcast: At 97, lithium-ion battery pioneer John Goodenough says his work is not done. Articles are available from the contacts.

News media can arrange telephone interviews with Charpentier or other experts in the field by calling or emailing ACS at the contact information below. In addition, a Speaking of Chemistry video on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be posted.                                                     

The American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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