- Title: Battery pioneers who made mobile revolution possible win Nobel chemistry prize
- Date: 9th October 2019
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH ENTERING ROOM FOR NEWS CONFERENCE MAN OPENING CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH, SAYING: "I didn't ever lobby for or look forward to this particular day but I'm very happy that it's arrived. It's very nice to receive a recognition, yes." GOODENOUGH LISTENING TO A QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH, SAYING: "I had somebody with a cellphone in my room and they told me that it had happened and so... life is full of surprises (HE LAUGHS)." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH, SAYING: "Immediately the Sony people at Sony corporation said, ah that's what we need to the wireless revolution so they did the battery development that was necessary to make a commercial cell Cobolt LiCoO2, once they had a commercial cell, then they could do the wireless revolution so that's how that one went and you have to give the people at Sony corporation some credit for having taken the intellectual property and done the battery development that was necessary to make a commercial product." REPORTER ASKING QUESTIONS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH, SAYING: "A millionaire for my work? I didn't really care too much about the money. The lawyers always end up with the money. The lawyers always end up with the money, everything I've ever done, the lawyers always end up with all the money." CAMERA OPERATOR FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH, SAYING: "You know, those of us who are technologists, we make something but it's morally neutral, it always depends upon how people use it. People can use the lithium-ion battery to blow up things or they can use the lithium-ion battery as way we intended it to be used. So every technology advance is morally neutral, it's dependent upon how people use it." SIGN READING (English): The Royal Society (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH, SAYING: "Climate change is coming from the burning of fossil fuels of course, that's known and we also know that that's not a sustainable option. So I think the lithium-ion battery people are trying really hard with the lithium-ion battery to do electric cars. It always runs a problem with it because you cannot charge it too fast or you plate lithium on the carbon and then you have the problem of dendrites and fires but we need electric cars. We need to find a way to emancipate ourselves from our dependence on the burning of fossil fuels so people are working in the direction and they'll get there." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH, SAYING: "I don't know where I started with this but anyway, life is a journey and I am very grateful for the invitation I had to come to the University of Oxford and pretend I was a chemist (LAUGHS)."
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2019 15:33
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0DMSSN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: QUALITY AS INCOMING
EDITORS NOTE: PLEASE SEE EDIT 3229-NOBEL-PRIZE/CHEMISTRY MORE FOR IMPROVED QUALITY VIDEO. PLEASE NOTE EDIT 3229 ADDS ONE MORE SOUNDBITE FROM NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNER JOHN GOODENOUGH
Three scientists won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Wednesday (October 9) for developing and refining rechargeable lithium-ion batteries which made the global information technology, mobile and fossil-fuel free revolutions possible.
American John Goodenough, at 97, became the oldest winner of a Nobel prize and shares the 9 million Swedish crown ($906,000 award equally with Stanley Whittingham from Britain and Akira Yoshino of Japan, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
"Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991. They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind," the academy's Nobel committee said.
Whittingham developed the first functional lithium battery in the early 1970s. Goodenough doubled the battery's potential in the following decade and Yoshino eliminated pure lithium from the battery, making it much safer to use.
The prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were created and funded in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901.
The Nobel prizes for medicine and physics were awarded earlier this week. The awards for literature, peace and economics will be announced in the next few days.
(Production Credits: Ben Makori, Dina Selim) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None