GoKawiilNobel chemist Hideki Shirakawa, discoverer of conductive plastics, dies at 90
Hideki Shirakawa, who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger for discovering that polymers can conduct electricity, has died at age 90. His breakthrough came from research at Tokyo Institute of Technology, where a 1967 experimental error by a visiting researcher led to the creation of a metallic-looking polyacetylene film instead of the expected powder, which Shirakawa then developed further by doping it with other chemicals to make it electrically conductive.
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Shirakawa's work founded the field of conductive polymers, challenging the long-held assumption that plastics are inherently insulating and opening pathways for materials now used in organic electronics, batteries and sensors. His story also illustrates how accidental laboratory errors can lead to major scientific discoveries when researchers recognize and pursue unexpected results.
- Shirakawa shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering conductive polymers.
- The key discovery arose from an accidental 1,000-fold catalyst overconcentration during a 1967 experiment.
- He was only the second Japanese chemist to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, after Kenichi Fukui in 1981.
Source: nature.com — Akagi, 2026-11-11
Published there as: “Hideki Shirakawa obituary: chemist who showed that plastics can conduct electricity”
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