M. Stanley Whittingham
Facts
© Nobel Media. Photo: A. Mahmoud
M. Stanley Whittingham
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019
Born: 22 December 1941, United Kingdom
Affiliation at the time of the award: Binghamton University, State University of New York, New York, NY, USA
Prize motivation: "for the development of lithium-ion batteries."
Prize share: 1/3
Life
Stanley Whittingham was born in Nottingham in Great Britain. He studied at Oxford University and completed his doctorate there in 1968. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in the United States, he worked for the Exxon and Schlumberger oil companies before becoming a professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1988.
Work
Storing electrical energy in batteries is a key factor in solving the world's energy supply. The element lithium is useful in batteries since it willingly releases electrons. In the 1970s, Stanley Whittingham developed an innovative cathode in a lithium battery. This was made from titanium disulphide which, at a molecular level, has spaces that can house lithium ions. Whittingham's contributions were crucial for the development of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in for example mobile phones and electric cars.
Learn more
Nobel Prizes 2020
Their work and discoveries range from the formation of black holes and genetic scissors to efforts to combat hunger and develop new auction formats.
See them all presented here.
