Awarding of an Honorary Master’s Degree to Sir Michael Stanley Whittingham

27.08.2024

Held in the Aula Magna of Palazzo del Bo on September 6, 2024, the University of Padua will award an honorary master's degree in Chemical and Process Engineering to Sir Michael Stanley Whittingham. The British-American chemist is a key figure in the industrialization of lithium-ion batteries, as his groundbreaking work has laid the foundation for the development of research by many scholars. The honorary academic titled is being conferred on the proposal of the University of Padua's Department of Industrial Engineering.

Sir Michael Stanley Whittingham is a Full Professor of Chemistry and Director of both the Institute for Materials Research and the Materials Science and Engineering Program at Binghamton University, State University of New York. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Akira Yoshino and John B. Goodenough in 2019 “for the development of lithium-ion batteries,” which are now used in a wide variety of applications, from cell phones to electric vehicles.

The scientist holds patents covering the exploitation of intercalation chemistry in high-power density and highly reversible lithium-ion batteries.

In the 1970s he discovered intercalation electrodes and accurately described the intercalation reactions that occur during the charging and discharging processes in rechargeable batteries.

Whittingham also invented the first rechargeable lithium metal battery (LMB), which was engineered and commercialized by Exxon in 1977 for applications in small appliances and electric vehicles.

Registration is required to attend the ceremony.

The event is broadcast live on the official University of Padua YouTube channel.