Michael Thackeray is a materials chemist who has contributed to advancing battery science and technology over a lifelong career at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa (1973-1993) and at Argonne National Laboratory in the United States (1994-).  Impacted by the Middle East oil crisis in 1973, a 4-fold increase in the oil price, and the need for clean energy, Michael's love of crystallography led him to study structure-electrochemical property relationships in battery electrodes and electrolytes and, consequently, to discover and design new materials for the lithium-ion battery industry.

Michael is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the Electrochemical Society and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study in South Africa.  He is Honorary Chairman of the International Battery Association, receiving the IBA Medal of Excellence in 2019 for his leadership and service.  He served as director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Center for Electrical Energy Storage (2009-2014) and he is the recipient of the American Chemical Society's E. V. Murphree Award in industrial and engineering chemistry (2016) and two R&D100 Awards (2009, 2015).