Yale News

He joined the military after Pearl Harbor. After World War II, he graduated with a math degree from Yale.

Now, at the age of 97, John Goodenough ’44 is one of the oldest winners of the Nobel Prize in the award’s history.

Goodenough and two other scientists will share this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing lithium-ion batteries — those found in mobile phones, power tools and even electric vehicles — and will head to Stockholm, Sweden, to accept their prize later this year. Goodenough currently works at The University of Texas at Austin as a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering.

The Nobel Prize is the latest addition to the pile of honors and awards Goodenough has amassed over his life, including the National Medal of Science, the Enrico Fermi Award and the Japan Prize. In a press release from the University of Texas, the Yale alumnus expressed gratitude for the announcement.

“I’m honored and humbled to win the Nobel Prize,” he said. “I thank all my friends for the support and assistance throughout my life.”

Matt Kristoffersen | matthew.kristoffersen@yale.edu