Hideki Shirakawa, Nobel laureate who discovered conductive polymers, dies at 90

Hideki Shirakawa, a Japanese scientist who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on conductive polymers, has died at the age of 90. Shirakawa died on August 24, according to the University of Tsukuba, where he was a professor. A cause of death was not specified.

Shirakawa's research, conducted with American scientists Alan Heeger and Alan MacDiarmid, proved that plastics could be made to conduct electricity, a finding that contradicted conventional wisdom at the time. This discovery led to the development of less expensive, lighter, and more flexible conductive materials compared to metals.

These materials have found applications in various electronic devices, including solar cells and the screens of mobile phones.

Born in Tokyo in 1936, Shirakawa earned a doctoral degree in engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1966. He later joined the University of Tsukuba in 1979. In the 1970s, he spent time as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, where he collaborated with MacDiarmid and Heeger.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognized their foundational work in the field of conducting polymers.