Introducing Sir Stanley: Binghamton University professor and Nobel Prize winner knighted by King Charles

Distinguished Professor M. Stanley Whittingham named a Knight Bachelor for contributions to chemistry

2024-06-26

(Press-News.org) BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Binghamton University, State University of New York Distinguished Professor and Nobel Prize Laureate M. Stanley Whittingham has been named a Knight Bachelor “for his services to research in chemistry.”

The honor entitles him to be known as Sir Stanley, or Sir Stanley Whittingham, and was announced as part of King Charles III’s official birthday honours list.

In his 30-plus-year career, Whittingham has been a pioneer in the development of lithium-ion batteries, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019. He holds the original patent on the use of intercalation chemistry in high-power density, highly reversible lithium batteries.

“On behalf of Binghamton University, I congratulate Stan Whittingham for earning the title Knight Bachelor,” said President Harvey Stenger. “Stan has been recognized around the world at the highest levels for his contributions in developing the lithium-ion battery. We are so fortunate to have Stan here in Binghamton for his expertise as a scholar and researcher, and as a trusted teacher, colleague and friend.”

The Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor was officially founded in 1908, though the “knighthood is the oldest rank and dignity known to Christian civilization.” It is a registered charity and seeks to uphold the dignity of Knight Bachelor and the rights of the degree of knighthood at all times, to register every duly authenticated knighthood and to advise members on matters relating to the degree.

“I am absolutely delighted that the British government has given me this great honor,” Whittingham said. “I may be wearing a lab coat instead of armor, but I’ll continue to fight the good fight for energy storage, knowing the King is behind me!”

Click here to read the entire list of Knight Bachelors.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

Introducing Sir Stanley: Binghamton University professor and Nobel Prize winner knighted by King Charles 2

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

NIH statement on preliminary efficacy results of twice-yearly lenacapavir for HIV prevention in cisgender women

2024-06-26

The injectable antiretroviral drug lenacapavir was safe and 100% effective as long-acting HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among cisgender women in a Phase 3 clinical trial, according to top-line findings released by Gilead Sciences, Inc., the study sponsor. Lenacapavir is administered every six months, making it the most durable HIV prevention method to have shown efficacy in this population. NIAID applauds the study sponsor, investigators, study staff, and—most importantly—the participants ...

Neurobiologist Joshua C. Brumberg named CUNY Graduate Center president

2024-06-26

The City University of New York has appointed Joshua C. Brumberg as president of the CUNY Graduate Center, making permanent a post he has held on an interim basis since October 2023. Brumberg, a neurobiologist who has been a faculty member, dean and researcher during his 22-year career at CUNY, will lead the University’s renowned center of graduate education, scholarship and public-interest research. CUNY’s Board of Trustees approved the appointment at its meeting last night. “Dr. Brumberg has played a key role in expanding CUNY’s research enterprise over the past several years,” said Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “A ...

Cell division: Before commitment, a very long engagement

2024-06-26

Before a cell commits fully to the process of dividing itself into two new cells, it may ensure the appropriateness of its commitment by staying for many hours—sometimes more than a day—in a reversible intermediate state, according to a discovery by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. Their revelation of this fundamental feature of biology includes details of its mechanisms and dynamics, which may inform the development of future therapies targeting cancers and other diseases. In their study, published June 26 in Nature, the researchers developed new tools allowing them to track over time the activation state of E2F, a ...

New tool enables faster, more cost-effective genome editing of traits to improve agriculture sustainability

2024-06-26

ST. LOUIS, MO, June 26, 2024 – With the goal of reducing the time and cost it takes to bring an improved crop to the marketplace, research conducted in the laboratory of Keith Slotkin, PhD, and his colleagues in the Plant Transformation Facility at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, was recently published in the scientific journal Nature. The publication Transposase-assisted target site integration for efficient plant genome engineering focuses on technology called TATSI (Transposase-Assisted Target Site Integration), which uses transposable elements to integrate custom DNA into specific sites in plant genomes. The ...

Unlocking the world of bacteria

2024-06-26

Bacteria populate virtually every habitat on Earth, including within and on our own bodies. Understanding and engineering bacteria can lead to new methods for diagnosing, treating, and preventing infections. Additionally, it presents opportunities to protect crops from disease and create sustainable cell factories for chemical production, reducing environmental impact — just a few of the many benefits to society. To unlock these advantages, scientists need the ability to manipulate the genetic content of these bacteria. However, a longstanding bottleneck in genetically engineering bacteria has been the efficient ...

Argonne to support new AI for science projects as part of the National AI Research Resource Pilot

2024-06-26

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory will support three innovative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven science projects as part of the first round of awards from the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot. Led by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in collaboration with DOE and several partners, the NAIRR Pilot aims to provide researchers and students with expanded access to key AI resources and data. NAIRR’s ultimate goal ...

Stress testing pension funds: Lithuanian researchers lead global innovation

2024-06-26

“We wanted to investigate how second pillar pension funds react to financial crises and how to protect them from the crises,” says Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) professor Dr Audrius Kabašinskas, who, together with his team, discovered a way to achieve this goal. The discovery in question is the development of stress tests for pension funds. Lithuanian researchers were the first in the world to come up with such an adaptation of the stress tests. Stress tests are usually carried out on banks or other financial institutions to allow market regulators to determine and assess their ability to withstand adverse economic conditions. According to the professor at ...

Multivitamin use and mortality risk in 3 prospective US cohorts

2024-06-26

About The Study: Multivitamin use was not associated with a mortality benefit in this cohort study of U.S. adults. Still, many adults report using multivitamins to maintain or improve health. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Erikka Loftfield, Ph.D., M.P.H., email erikka.loftfield@nih.gov. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.18729) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, ...

Solar technology: Innovative light-harvesting system works very efficiently

2024-06-26

In order to convert sunlight into electricity or other forms of energy as efficiently as possible, the very first step is an efficient light-harvesting system. Ideally, this should be panchromatic, i.e. absorb the entire spectrum of visible light. The light-collecting antennae of plants and bacteria are a model for this. They capture a broad spectrum of light for photosynthesis, but are very complex in structure and require many different dyes to transmit the energy of the absorbed light and focus it on a central point. The light-harvesting systems developed by humans to date also have disadvantages: Although ...

Brain’s ‘escape switch’ controlled by threat sensitivity dial

2024-06-26

Neuroscientists have discovered how the brain bidirectionally controls sensitivity to threats to initiate and complete escape behaviour in mice. These findings could help unlock new directions for discovering therapies for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study, published today in Current Biology, outlines how researchers at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at UCL studied a region of the brain called the periaqueductal gray (PAG), which is known to be hyperactive in people with anxiety and PTSD. Their ...