This book highlights the achievements of the self-taught inventor, scientist, manufacturer and entrepreneur, Stanford R Ovshinsky. This remarkable individual could, without special training, compete with the well-funded establishments of learning and industry in the second half of the last century and leave us an incredible legacy of brilliant innovations with a lasting impact on our lives. His achievements extend over amazingly diverse fields and have or are prone to create new industries of great societal value.The phase change memories of commonly used rewritable CDs and DVDs as well as of new flash memories are his invention; so are the Ni Metal hydride batteries which are the enabling batteries for electric and hybrid/electric vehicles. The future hydrogen economy will utilize his efficient and safe hydrogen storage alloys. He has developed light and ultralight photovoltaic solar panels for converting sunlight into electricity and built the largest manufacturing facility for thin film flexible solar roofing materials. A common theme of his inventions is the synthesis of new materials utilizing novel aspects of structural and compositional disorder.The book explains for each of Ovshinsky's innovations the essence of his pioneering ideas and inventions. These introductions are followed by a selection of Ovshinsky's seminal publications and, for each subject category, a list of his patents which reveal the inventive mind of this unusually creative person. Ovshinsky's example of gaining a deep understanding of the science underlying his inventions, his perseverance as well as his ability to attract and inspire talented collaborators will be a role model for entrepreneurs of this century.

This book highlights the achievements of the self-taught inventor, scientist, manufacturer and entrepreneur, Stanford R Ovshinsky. This remarkable individual could, without special training, compete with the well-funded establishments of learning and industry in the second half of the last century and leave us an incredible legacy of brilliant innovations with a lasting impact on our lives. His achievements extend over amazingly diverse fields and have or are prone to create new industries of great societal value. The phase change memories of commonly used rewritable CDs and DVDs as well as of new flash memories are his invention; so are the Ni Metal hydride batteries which are the enabling batteries for electric and hybrid/electric vehicles. The future hydrogen economy will utilize his efficient and safe hydrogen storage alloys. He has developed light and ultralight photovoltaic solar panels for converting sunlight into electricity and built the largest manufacturing facility for thin film flexible solar roofing materials. A common theme of his inventions is the synthesis of new materials utilizing novel aspects of structural and compositional disorder.The book explains for each of Ovshinsky's innovations the essence of his pioneering ideas and inventions. These introductions are followed by a selection of Ovshinsky's seminal publications and, for each subject category, a list of his patents which reveal the inventive mind of this unusually creative person. Ovshinsky's example of gaining a deep understanding of the science underlying his inventions, his perseverance as well as his ability to attract and inspire talented collaborators will be a role model for entrepreneurs of this century.

The first full-length biography of a brilliant, self-taught inventor whose innovations in information and energy technology continue to shape our world. The Economist called Stanford R. Ovshinsky (1922–2012) “the Edison of our age,” but this apt comparison doesn't capture the full range of his achievements. As an independent, self-educated inventor, Ovshinsky not only created many important devices but also made fundamental discoveries in materials science. This book offers the first full-length biography of a visionary whose energy and information innovations continue to fuel our post-industrial economy. In The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, Lillian Hoddeson and Peter Garrett tell the story of an unconventional genius with no formal education beyond high school who invented, among other things, the rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries that have powered everything from portable electronics to hybrid cars, a system for mass-producing affordable thin-film solar panels, and rewritable CDs and DVDs. His most important discovery, the Ovshinsky effect, led to a paradigm shift in condensed matter physics and yielded phase-change memory, which is now enabling new advances in microelectronics. A son of the working class who began as a machinist and toolmaker, Ovshinsky focused his work on finding solutions to urgent social problems, and to pursue those goals, he founded Energy Conversion Devices, a unique research and development lab. At the end of his life, battered by personal and professional losses, Ovshinsky nevertheless kept working to combat global warming by making solar energy “cheaper than coal”—another of his many visions of a better tomorrow.

“An exuberant tour through the world of scientists behaving badly” (The New York Times). They may have a public image as cool, logical, levelheaded types. But in reality, scientists will do pretty much anything—take drugs, follow mystical visions, lie, and even cheat—to make a discovery. In Free Radicals, physicist and journalist Michael Brooks seamlessly weaves together true stories of the “mad, bad and dangerous” men and women who have revolutionized the scientific world, and offers a fast-paced and thrilling exploration of the real process behind discovery (The Times, London). Brooks also traces the cover-up back to its source: the scientific establishment’s reaction to the public fear of science after World War II. He argues that it its high time for science to come clean about just how bold and daring scientists really are. “Not all scientists are nerds. In Free Radicals, physicist Michael Brooks tries to dispel the notion that scientists are stuffy, pen-protector-polishing bookworms.” —The Washington Post “Insightful . . . A page-turning, unvarnished look at the all-too-human side of science.” —Kirkus Reviews

What causes an Israeli born in Romania to immigrate to America and end up with over three hundred patents in his name in the most exciting scientific and technological breakthroughs of the twentieth century? Join the adventures of physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur Zvi Yaniv and see how Jules Verne’s book, The Mysterious Island, ignited his imagination and love for science, which, in turn, propelled him to a career in flat panel displays, image digitizers, and molecular engineering. These fields eventually became an integral part of what is known in the common vernacular today as nanotechnology. Do you use an image scanner digitizer? Are you reading this on a flat panel display, on your computer, your iPad , or iPhone? Are you getting information driving on the highways from electronic billboards? Are you watching the news or movies on your giant color TV screen? Follow Zvi’s journey and along the way, learn how to unleash your own creativity and innovation. Understand what nanotechnology is all about and its future. This book is about creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, using the vehicle of Dr. Yaniv’s life and career as a case study. The book shows one person’s ability to use his creativity and innovation skills to impact the fields of liquid crystal displays, image scanner digitizers, flat-screen color TVs, digital advertising, and give rise to nanotechnologically based new materials and applications thereof. During his more-than-four-decade career in science and industry, Zvi perfected techniques for taking ideas from concept to commercialization, outlining an explicit road map for this process. Along the way, the book demystifies what nanotechnology is and how it impacts different aspects of our society from science to education to medicine to new materials fields.

Nanostructured Materials Engineering and Characterization for Battery Applications is designed to help solve fundamental and applied problems in the field of energy storage. Broken up into four separate sections, the book begins with a discussion of the fundamental electrochemical concepts in the field of energy storage. Other sections look at battery materials engineering such as cathodes, electrolytes, separators and anodes and review various battery characterization methods and their applications. The book concludes with a review of the practical considerations and applications of batteries.This will be a valuable reference source for university professors, researchers, undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as scientists working primarily in the field of materials science, applied chemistry, applied physics and nanotechnology. - Presents practical consideration for battery usage such as LCA, recycling and green batteries - Covers battery characterization techniques including electrochemical methods, microscopy, spectroscopy and X-ray methods - Explores battery models and computational materials design theories

This book highlights the achievements of the self-taught inventor, scientist, manufacturer and entrepreneur, Stanford R Ovshinsky. This remarkable individual could, without special training, compete with the well-funded establishments of learning and industry in the second half of the last century and leave us an incredible legacy of brilliant innovations with a lasting impact on our lives. His achievements extend over amazingly diverse fields and have or are prone to create new industries of great societal value.The phase change memories of commonly used rewritable CDs and DVDs as well as of new flash memories are his invention; so are the Ni Metal hydride batteries which are the enabling batteries for electric and hybrid/electric vehicles. The future hydrogen economy will utilize his efficient and safe hydrogen storage alloys. He has developed light and ultralight photovoltaic solar panels for converting sunlight into electricity and built the largest manufacturing facility for thin film flexible solar roofing materials. A common theme of his inventions is the synthesis of new materials utilizing novel aspects of structural and compositional disorder.The book explains for each of Ovshinsky''s innovations the essence of his pioneering ideas and inventions. These introductions are followed by a selection of Ovshinsky''s seminal publications and, for each subject category, a list of his patents which reveal the inventive mind of this unusually creative person. Ovshinsky''s example of gaining a deep understanding of the science underlying his inventions, his perseverance as well as his ability to attract and inspire talented collaborators will be a role model for entrepreneurs of this century.