South African Science Park Honors Thackeray

By David A. Barry

Visitors to the new Innovation Hub in Pretoria, South Africa, can now drive down a street named after Argonne materials scientist Michael Thackeray of Argonne's Chemical Engineering Division. Thackeray attended the Hub's opening ceremonies April 5 and was one of 11 notable South African scientists and innovators to be honored with his own street name. The Innovation Hub is the first science park in Africa. "It is very much targeted toward the up-and-coming high-tech entrepreneurs in South Africa," Thackeray said.

Thackeray is perhaps best known for his research on electrode materials for lithium batteries; the technology he developed helps power everyday objects like cellular telephones. The materials technology was commercialized while Thackeray worked for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Although he does not have exact figures, he said, "I believe the patent portfolio has generated a very tidy sum." Thackeray was honored alongside his former CSIR colleague, Johan Coetzer, the pioneer of sodium-metal chloride ("Zebra") battery technology.

The list of honorees at the Hub also included four South African Nobel Prize winners — Max Theiler, Sir Aaron Klug, Allan M. Cormack, and Sydney Brenner — and two astronauts: Mark Shuttleworth, the first African to fly in space during a 2002 mission to the International Space Station; and Mike Melvill, who became the first civilian to fly into space during his June 2004 flight aboard SpaceShipOne.

Around $50 million has already been invested in the Innovation Hub, one of 11 big projects in an initiative to invest in the economic infrastructure of the Gauteng province, in which Pretoria, or Tshwane, is located. Thackeray said the province has long been a powerhouse of the science and technology that has come out of the country.

Thackeray was born in Pretoria and graduated from the University of Cape Town. He came to Argonne in 1994. He said his return trip to South Africa was especially heartwarming because the country was making great strides forward, despite its racially divided and volatile past.

Thackeray said, "Through the leadership of previous presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. DeKlerk, who negotiated a remarkably peaceful transition of political power a decade ago, the people have come together in a really positive way. Science and technology have historically been rooted in the white community of South Africa. Now there's a tremendous impetus to train the next generation of all South Africans."

Thackeray added, "My feeling is that in this whole process, one has to build on the strengths of the past." His words are echoed in the new signposts at the science park, raised both to honor those who have led the way in South African science and technology and to inspire the innovators of the future.