WITHOUT LIMITS

On the 18^th of October at the Institute of High Temperatures Electrochemistry Bronin D.I., head of the laboratory of cross-cutting technologies in distributed power generation (InEnergy), shared impressions on the acquaintance with Nobel Prize in chemistry 2019 laureate John Goodenough. Dmitry attended a plenary session of the scientist on one of the international conferences. He got interested in the outstanding researcher and gathered some interesting information about his biography and scientific achievements.

 John Bannister Goodenough is a son of famous German historian of religion  Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough. He received a Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, from Yale, where he was a member of secret membership Skull and Bones. During the Second World War we volunteered to go to front in 1941? But he was conscribed only in 1944 after graduating from the University. He served as a meteorologist on the Azores and provided a transatlantic air bridge for the US Army supply in Europe. In 1947 after demobilization he returned to scientific work and defended PhD thesis in physics at the University of Chicago.

It is interesting that in 1961 during the “Iron Curtain” John Goodenough visited Sverdlovsk and met Ural scientists, including a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Yakov Shur. They discussed the problems of magnetism. In 1970-1980^th he headed the Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Oxford. There he suggested using lithium cobaltite as a cathode in lithium-ion batteries. During the last 33 years John Goodenough works as a professor at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2016 he and his colleagues suggested new type of batteries with glass electrolyte, which may upstage modern LIBs in power capacity, operation temperatures range and safety.

97-yaers old John Bannister Goodenough is the oldest scientist awarded by the Nobel Prize. He is also a laureate of great number of prestigious prizes.