Strategic Board of Advisors

Peter B. Littlewood is a Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago, and Emeritus Director of the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.   His research interests include the applications of materials for energy and sustainability, and he has advised on a number of major battery initiatives, including the DOE’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research and the UK’s recently announced Faraday Challenge.   He is a member of the science advisory board of the recently formed Responsible Battery Coalition.

Dr. Littlewood came to Chicago and to Argonne in 2011 after being appointed associate laboratory director of the lab’s Physical Sciences and Engineering directorate, and served from 2014 to December 2016 as Laboratory Director.   Argonne is a multidisciplinary science and engineering research center born out of the Manhattan Project, working to answer the biggest questions facing humanity, from how to obtain affordable clean energy to protecting ourselves and our environment.   He spent the previous 14 years at the University of Cambridge, where he last served as the head of the Cavendish Laboratory and the Department of Physics.    He began his career with almost 20 years at Bell Laboratories, ultimately serving for five years as head of Theoretical Physics Research.

Dr. Littlewood holds six patents, has published more than 250 articles in scientific journals and has given more than 300 invited talks at international conferences, universities and laboratories.   He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences).   He serves on advisory boards of research and education institutions and other scientific organizations worldwide.    He holds a bachelor’s degree in natural sciences (physics) and a doctorate in physics, both from the University of Cambridge.