Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to John B, M Stanley, Akira Yoshino

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 was jointly awarded to John B Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino “for the development of lithium-ion batteries” on October 9. This was announced two days after the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced for a Canadian-American cosmologist along with two Swiss scientists. The awards were presented by Göran K Hansson, Secretary-General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 

What are Lithium-ion batteries?

Lithium-ion batteries are presently the most portable form for consumer electronics. They are used in mobile phones as well as laptops because of the high energy per unit of mass. These batteries even have greater power to weight ratio along with high energy and their performance remains unaffected with high temperature. Because of their low self-discharge, a number of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles also use the lithium-ion batteries. The Nobel Prize is awarded to the scientists who developed these batteries as according to the organization, they have “revolutionized our lives”. 

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Nobel Prizes 2019

Unlike the previous year, this year the Nobel Prize is being announced from October 7 to October 14  in the following order: October 7 (Medicine), October 8 (Physics), October 9 (Chemistry), October 10 (Literature), October 11 (Peace), October 14 (Economics). The award is in the name of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist, engineer, and also an industrialist established prizes in science. The first Nobel Prizes were announced in 1901. According to the organization, Chemistry “was the most important science for Alfred Nobel's own work”. Furthermore, Chemistry was also the second prize area that Nobel had mentioned in his will. 

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