• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

DONATE
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Our Bloggers
    • Commenting Policy
  • Reading Lists
  • Scholar’s Compass
    • Scholar’s Compass Booklet
    • View Recent Posts
  • Connect
    • Membership
    • Events
    • Donate
    • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Science Corner / Science and Faith / Science Corner: Nobel Complications

Science Corner: Nobel Complications

October 16, 2019 by Andy Walsh No Comments

The Nobel Prize discoveries were not very photogenic this year, so we have an artist’s rendition of 51 Pegasi b, the prize-winning discovery of Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. (Photo by European Southern Observatory )

The Nobel Prize Winners were announced over the past week. James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz shared the physics prize for work on physical cosmology (Peebles) and discovery of the first planet outside our solar system (Mayor and Queloz). William Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza won the physiology or medicine prize for studying how our cells respond to oxygen. The one I’ve been thinking most about though is the prize in chemistry, awarded to John Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for developing lithium-ion batteries.

There are lots of angles for looking at the Nobel winners. This year continues a trend of immigrants to the United States being among the laureates. There are questions of who else could or should have won, such as Vera Rubin who discovered dark matter. Laureate Sir Peter Ratcliffe has been sharing a rejection letter he received for the paper that would ultimately win him the prize. Some are interested in the Christian faith of recipient John Goodenough. What I’ve been thinking about is the impact of the discoveries themselves.

The laptop I’m typing on uses a lithium-ion battery, as does the car I drive and quite possibly many of the devices you are using to read this. Improvements in battery technology have created a variety of opportunities for additional technological developments and changes in our energy consumption. Generated electricity either needs to be used immediately or stored in some other form. This is one of the challenges for moving away from burning fossil fuels for electricity and relying on solar, wind and waves instead. Fossil fuels represent a stable form for energy storage, to be released as demand for electricity requires. Solar panels and wind turbines produce electricity on their own schedule, not ours. Storage allows us to get renewable electricity on our schedule. On municipal grid scale, batteries are not the most efficient storage option, but in cars and electronics they are quite useful. So better batteries like the lithium-ion ones for which Goodenough, Whittingham, and Yoshino got the Nobel Prize are a good thing, right?

Unfortunately, that is not the complete story. Lithium-ion batteries use lithium and cobalt, metals that we have to mine from the earth. Cobalt mining has come under scrutiny for the use of child labor. Some companies are taking steps to eliminate child labor from their supply chain, although the relative value of cobalt will continue to provide incentives until there are sufficient other economic opportunities. Perhaps Economics laureates Esther Duflo, Abhijit Banerjee, and Michael Kremer can help; they won for experimental research on which programs are most effective at reducing poverty.

I don’t think Goodenough, Whittingham, and Yoshino are directly responsible for the way cobalt mining has changed to meet the demand for lithium-ion batteries. I doubt they could have predicted how widely their technology would be adopted or what it would take for supply to keep up with demand. Mostly I just felt it was important that we consider together the positive and negative consequences of the world-changing science that we are recognizing this week.

About the author:

Andy Walsh
Posts

Andy has worn many hats in his life. He knows this is a dreadfully clichéd notion, but since it is also literally true he uses it anyway. Among his current metaphorical hats: husband of one wife, father of two teenagers, reader of science fiction and science fact, enthusiast of contemporary symphonic music, and chief science officer. Previous metaphorical hats include: comp bio postdoc, molecular biology grad student, InterVarsity chapter president (that one came with a literal hat), music store clerk, house painter, and mosquito trapper. Among his more unique literal hats: British bobby, captain's hats (of varying levels of authenticity) of several specific vessels, a deerstalker from 221B Baker St, and a railroad engineer's cap. His monthly Science in Review is drawn from his weekly Science Corner posts -- Wednesdays, 8am (Eastern) on the Emerging Scholars Network Blog. His book Faith across the Multiverse is available from Hendrickson.

  • Andy Walsh
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/andy/
    I Found a Postdoc in the Sciences: Now What? (Pt 1)
  • Andy Walsh
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/andy/
    I Found a Postdoc in the Sciences: Now What? (Pt 2)
  • Andy Walsh
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/andy/
    Science Corner: Cat Chat
  • Andy Walsh
    https://blog.emergingscholars.org/author/andy/
    Science Corner: A Season of Rest

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: Science and Faith Tagged With: conflict metals, lithium-ion battery, Nobel Prize, science, science corner

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Become a Member

Membership is Free. Sign up and receive our monthly newsletter and access ESN member benefits.

Join ESN Today

Scholar’s Compass Booklet

Scholar's Compass Booklet

Click here to get your copy

Top Posts

  • The Message of Genesis 1
  • "Agony"
  • Faith and Reason, Part 3: Aquinas
  • Faith and Reason, Part 2: Augustine
  • Christian Views of Creation

Facebook Posts

Facebook Posts

Footer

About Us

The Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) is a national network within InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries which supports those on the academic pathway as they work out how their academic vocation serves God and others. We encourage and equip undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty as they navigate each stage of their academic vocation and transition to the next step in or beyond the academy.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Recent Posts

  • “Agony”
  • Forgiveness
  • Confession

Article Categories

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us
Member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
Copyright © 2023 - InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA ®. All rights reserved.

InterVarsity, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, and the InterVarsity logo are trademarks of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and its affiliated companies.