Brookhaven, SBU Scientist Esther Takeuchi Featured in Inventors Hall of Fame Video
September 5, 2025
Esther S. Takeuchi was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011. (National Inventors Hall of Fame)
The National Inventors Hall of Fame featured inductee Esther S. Takeuchi in a video profile that celebrates the materials scientist and chemical engineer’s life of learning and motivation to improve the world through science.
Takeuchi is chair of the Interdisciplinary Science Department at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and holds a joint appointment as SUNY Distinguished Professor and William and Jane Knapp Chair of Energy and the Environment at Stony Brook University (SBU).
The video, made in partnership with the hall of fame and United States Patent and Trademark Office, shows Takeuchi at Brookhaven Lab, SBU, and one of her favorite places to be on Long Island — the beach. She describes the important influences in her life, most notably her husband, Kenneth Takeuchi, a scientist in the Interdisciplinary Science Department and Distinguished Teaching Professor at SBU.
It includes words of praise from Amy Marschilok, manager of the Energy Storage Division at Brookhaven and SBU chemistry professor.
“Esther, she’s like water,” Marschilok said. “She is very agile. She is very nimble. She can go in new directions, she can think about new things, and she can explore new possibilities, which is really special.”
Also in the video, Maggie Sullivan, Brookhaven’s chief human resources officer and associate laboratory director for human resources, offers a real-world glimpse at the benefits of one of Takeuchi’s most notable inventions: the lithium/silver vanadium oxide battery that made implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs) possible. These life-saving devices have since become a standard treatment, helping prevent sudden cardiac death in millions of patients worldwide.
(National Inventors Hall of Fame)
One of the most prolific women inventors in the United States, Takeuchi holds more than 150 U.S. patents, and her work in electrochemistry and battery technology has powered advances in both medicine and clean energy. Takeuchi was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011.
“I think that science can help lead us to the type of world we want to live in,” Takeuchi says in the video. “We can solve problems, we can improve medicine, medical devices, and knowing that there's the next generation of students who care about these things and are educated to take on these challenges is really a motivation.”
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