Pioneers

John B. Goodenough

American

Citation Formats

General Reference

Energy Atlas. "John B. Goodenough." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/john-goodenough.

APA Style

Energy Atlas. (n.d.). John B. Goodenough. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/john-goodenough

BibTeX

@misc{energyatlas-john-b-goodenough,
  author = {Energy Atlas},
  title = {John B. Goodenough},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/john-goodenough},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

An American materials scientist and solid-state physicist who identified the lithium cobalt oxide cathode that made the modern rechargeable lithium-ion battery commercially practical, roughly doubling its energy density over earlier cathode materials. He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries, receiving it at age 97, the oldest Nobel laureate in history at the time.

Facts

Birth Date

1922-07-25 1

Birth Year

1922 1

Death Date

2023-06-25 1

Death Year

2023 1

Nationality

American 1

Defining Contribution

Identified the lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) cathode that doubled the capacity of lithium-ion batteries and made the commercial rechargeable cell practical; shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Technologies Developed

Lithium-Ion Battery

Goodenough shared the underlying Nobel-winning research with M. Stanley Whittingham (who demonstrated the first working lithium rechargeable cell in the 1970s) and Akira Yoshino (who built the first commercially viable lithium-ion cell in 1985); Goodenough's own specific, well documented contribution is the lithium cobalt oxide cathode.

Source Wikipedia: John Goodenough

Sources

1. Wikipedia: John Goodenough

John Goodenough, lead section

Quote, John Goodenough, lead section