https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/high-energy-award-lithium-batteries-win-2019-nobel-prize-in-chemistry1/

“This is a highly charged story,” began Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, explaining the announcement that a trio of chemists who spent decades developing the lithium ion battery were today awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work. These batteries, small and powerful as compared with older battery technology, made possible pocket-sized mobile phones, laptop computers, electric cars and renewable-energy devices such as solar panels that can help address the problems of climate change, Ramström said.

The prize will be shared by John B. Goodenough of the University of Texas at Austin, M. Stanley Whittingham of Binghamton University, State University of New York, and Akira Yoshino, who works at Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University in Japan. They will split the more than $900,000 award.