Stanley Whittingham, a 2019 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the development of lithium-ion batteries, will give two lectures at Ithaca College—one of a more technical nature and the other for a more general audience—both of which are free and open to the public.
Whittingham is a professor of chemistry and director of both the Institute for Materials Research and the Materials Science and Engineering program at Binghamton University, as well as director of the Northeast Center for Chemical Energy Storage. A key figure in the development of lithium-ion batteries, he was one of three scientists honored in 2019 for their work in the field. As announced by the Nobel Committee: “This lightweight, rechargeable, and powerful battery is now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric vehicles. It can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society.”
Thursday, October 19, 4:30 p.m.
Textor 101
Technical Lecture: “50 Years Old—What are the Ultimate Limits of Lithium Batteries and How Do We Get There?”
Whittingham’s talk can also be viewed live on Zoom here.
Saturday, October 21, 10:30 am
Textor 102
General Lecture: “Renewable Energy, Energy Storage and Global Climate Change”
Whittingham’s talk can also be viewed live on Zoom here.
More information for those wishing to attend the talks can be found here.
Whittingham received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. 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.
Whittingham’s Ithaca College visit is sponsored by the Department of Chemistry—which this year is celebrating its 60th anniversary—and funded by a grant from The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation.