John Goodenough is probably one of the world's most important "unknown" men. You may have never heard of him before; but if it weren't for him, you'd probably be strolling around with a smartphone with a battery the size of a brick. John is the inventor of the Li-Ion battery, and he's now working on a improved version that may revolutionize the world once again.
John Goodenough has a curious name. Though he invented the Li-Ion batteries that enabled the "mobile revolution" (in 1980, when he was 57 - though the batteries only reached the market in 1991 introduced by Sony), he doesn't think its quite "good enough". Now, with 92 years he says he's on the right track to create a new super-battery that will change the world again.
Creating a battery isn't easy. We just have to look at all those that have promised new and improved batteries over the last decades... and see they all failed to provide a better alternative to li-ion batteries. We can look at batteries as being complex "recipes" that require the perfect ingredients, but finding/creating the perfect ingredients isn't easy - and the problem everyone is trying to solve is creating a battery with a pure lithium anode, that would allow it to have a 60% higher capacity than current ones. Just imagine instantly having 60% extra juice in your smartphone; or that an electric car that was good for 300 miles could now reach 480 miles before recharging - or having devices where batteries could be half the size while providing the same battery life.
All we can do is hope that his own "battery" keeps on ticking till we can finally sort all the details out and bring this new battery to fruition. And this time, he can rest assured he'll get all the recognition he deserves and have is name known worldwide! :)
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