Binghamton University professor recommended for knighthood

VESTAL, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – You can add “Sir Stanley” to the growing list of accolades given to Binghamton University professor and Nobel laureate M Stanley Whittingham.

Great Britain’s King Charles announced last month that Whittingham has been recommended for knighthood.

Whittingham, who is credited with inventing the lithium-ion battery, grew up in Stamford, England and came to the United States in 1968 for what was supposed to be a two year stay at Stanford University in California. He never moved back to England.

After college, he went to work on alternative energy research at Esso, which later rebranded as Exxon. It was there that he made his initial groundbreaking discoveries.

Whittingham, who attained dual US and British citizenship in the mid 80’s, came to work as a Chemistry Professor at BU in 1988.

He says he came from a family of modest means.

“My father, his whole family were farmers. He was the first one ever to go to college. I was the first one ever to get a graduate degree from the family. Most of my siblings have now done the same thing as I did. We came very much from a farming family based near Wrexham in North Wales which people may remember from the soccer TV series,” said Whittingham.

Whittingham received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2019 for inventing the lithium-ion battery.

Last November, he presented a lifetime achievement award to former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on behalf of Benchmark, an energy analysis firm.

Whittingham says he believes he will officially be knighted during a ceremony six months from now at a ceremony with King Charles at Buckingham Palace or other royal residence. He’s not certain whether they still perform the ceremony with the sword and the shoulders. And he doesn’t plan to use the Sir moniker, although he expects the university may make use of it.

The full interview can be seen below.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WIVT - News 34.