Nobel Laureate M. Stanley Whittingham to Speak at Northwestern

Stanley Whittingham, a renowned materials scientist who received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of lithium-ion batteries, will speak to the Northwestern community on Tuesday, May 2.

Whittingham’s talk, part of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering’s John E. Dorn Lecture series, will begin at 4 p.m. in L211 in the Technological Institute on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. A reception will follow at 5 p.m. in the Technological Institute’s Willens Wing second floor atrium.

In his talk, Whittingham will explore how lithium batteries have evolved from an idea in 1972 to now dominating electrochemical energy storage today. He will discuss why the technology is positioned to enable the large-scale introduction of renewable energy and electrify transportation, and how that will leave a cleaner and more sustainable environment for the next generation. He will also explain the scientific opportunities for materials scientists to further improve their performance, cost, and safety.

Whittingham is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at State University of New York at Binghamton. He received his BA, MA, and PhD degrees in chemistry from Oxford University, where he was an honorary fellow of New College. He has been active in lithium batteries since 1971, when he won the Electrochemical Society’s Young Author Award for his work on beta-alumina. In 1972, he joined Exxon and discovered the role of intercalation in battery reactions, which resulted in the first commercial lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that were built by Exxon Enterprises.

In 2018, Whittingham was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His other honors include the Turbull Award from the Materials Research Society (MRS) and being named a fellow of MRS, the Royal Society, and the Initiative for Science in Europe.