Giants in History: Takehiko Takahashi

The field of solid-state ionics originated in Europe, but Takehiko Takahashi of Nagoya University in Japan was the first to coin the term ‘solid ionics’ in 1967. ‘Solid-state ionics’ first appeared in 1971 in another of his papers, and was likely a play on ‘solid-state electronics’, another rapidly growing field at the time. Over the decades, Japanese researchers have expanded the understanding of ionic conduction in solid compounds involving lithium, sodium-sulphur and perovskite structures, which led to the development of a variety of sensors and batteries.