UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Nobel laureate Stan Whittingham spoke at the Allcock Group Alumni Lecture, hosted by the Penn State Eberly College of Science’s Department of Chemistry on Sept. 30, which focused on the 50th anniversary of lithium-ion batteries. Whittingham is a distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering at Binghamton University and received the chemistry Nobel laureate in 2019 for the discovery of such batteries.
 
“What I want to do today is give you a little bit of background on what lithium-ion batteries are and what we’re trying to do,” Whittingham said. “Lithium batteries were invented in the U.S.; we developed them here, then it all disappeared to Japan to Sony, then Korea, now China, so our goal these days is to bring the batteries back here, and the goal is to have the batteries made in America.”

The Allcock Alumni Group Lectureship in Polymers and Materials Chemistry was established by former students of Harry Allcock, Atherton Professor of Chemistry, to enrich the Penn State Eberly College of Science by providing funds to support lectures by outstanding professionals in the field of polymers and materials chemistry.