Thursday 5 February 2015

flux-capacitor

Quartz Magazine features a very engrossing and inspiring profile of the unsung inventor, John Bannister Goodenough, who gave the world its mobility and galloping pace of miniaturisation with the lithium-ion battery. This robust and rechargeable power-source is in every electronic gadget worldwide and in the motors of hybrid vehicles, and I could imagine that the world might look very different if Goodenough had not found the right balance and combination to improve upon the transistor. Goodenough achieved his breakthrough at the age of fifty-seven—and now at the age of ninety-two, he’s far from ready to retire, believing that he can develop the next generation of storage-medium that could help finally wean the world off oil and start to reverse climate change. I wager that he’ll be about to deliver.