Lithium-Ion Battery Inventor Gave Patent Away for Free

The Power of a Gift: The Man Who Gave Away the Battery

Posted 5 days ago·Updated 1 day ago

The inventor of the lithium-ion battery gave away his patent for free, refusing to profit from a technology that could help the planet. His name was John B. Goodenough, and he was 57 years old when the breakthrough came.

A Late Bloomer's World-Changing Idea

In 1980, in an Oxford University lab, John B. Goodenough and his team cracked a code that had stumped scientists for years. They identified a stable cathode material—lithium cobalt oxide—that could store and release energy efficiently and safely. This wasn't a eureka moment from a young Silicon Valley prodigy. Goodenough was a late-career physicist who had survived a difficult childhood and served in World War II as a meteorologist. His work was driven by a profound belief in science as a public good, not a path to personal wealth. When the university, which owned the patent, licensed it to Sony for a song, Goodenough didn't see a penny. He didn't seem to mind.

The Choice That Powered a Revolution

Goodenough could have fought for royalties or leveraged his discovery into a fortune. Instead, he watched as his invention, freed from restrictive licensing, sparked a global revolution. Companies around the world began refining the technology, driving down costs and improving performance. This open pathway is a key reason lithium-ion batteries became affordable enough to go into everything. Your laptop, your smartphone, and eventually electric vehicles and grid storage all trace their lineage back to that Oxford lab. Goodenough often said his goal was to see fossil fuels replaced. He understood that hoarding the patent would have slowed that transition to a crawl.

More Than a Battery: A Legacy of Service

The story doesn't end with one act of generosity. Goodenough kept working well into his 90s, chasing an even better, safer solid-state battery. He became the oldest person ever to win a Nobel Prize, receiving it in 2019 at age 97. Colleagues describe a man of immense humility who rode the bus to work and whose office was famously cluttered with journals and papers. For him, the battery was never an end product to be sold. It was a tool for solving a human problem—a stepping stone toward cleaner energy independence. His life reframes success not as personal enrichment, but as contribution.

The Charge We Carry Forward

Today, as you check your phone or see an electric car glide silently by, you're witnessing the legacy of a conscious choice. John B. Goodenough’s decision to forgo a fortune helped electrify our world and is now central to the fight against climate change. The most powerful charge in his battery wasn't lithium ions; it was integrity. He proved that the greatest inventions aren't just those that change how we live, but also remind us why we innovate in the first place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who invented the lithium-ion battery?

The lithium-ion battery was co-invented by John B. Goodenough, who led the team that discovered the lithium cobalt oxide cathode in 1980. Other key contributors include M. Stanley Whittingham (who developed the first lithium battery) and Akira Yoshino (who created the first commercially viable version).

Why did John Goodenough give away the patent?

Goodenough believed the technology's potential to help the planet—by enabling portable electronics and, later, electric vehicles and renewable energy storage—was more important than personal profit. He wanted it to be widely adopted and improved upon without restrictive licensing slowing its development.

Did John Goodenough profit from lithium-ion batteries at all?

No, John Goodenough did not receive any royalties from the foundational lithium cobalt oxide patent. The patent was owned by Oxford University, which licensed it to battery manufacturers. Goodenough chose not to pursue personal financial gain from this specific invention.

How old was John Goodenough when he won the Nobel Prize?

John B. Goodenough was 97 years old when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 for his work on lithium-ion batteries, making him the oldest Nobel laureate in history.

Verified Fact

John B. Goodenough's role as co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery and his lack of personal royalties from the key patent are well-documented in Nobel Prize materials, biographies, and major news reports. The patent was owned by Oxford University and licensed non-exclusively.