Hideki Shirakawa, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Dies at 90

Hideki Shirakawa, recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died on August 24, 2026, in Yokohama, Japan. His death marks the passing of a scientist recognized for the discovery and development of electricity-conducting plastics.

According to reports, Shirakawa died at age 90 in a hospital in Yokohama. The cause of death was metastatic liver tumor and cancer of unknown primary origin, as stated by media citing local sources.

Shirakawa was born in Tokyo on August 20, 1936. He completed his doctorate in engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1966 before beginning his research career.

In 1967, while working at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Shirakawa encountered a laboratory incident involving an excessive amount of catalyst, which produced a silvery polyacetylene film. This event led to the identification of polymers capable of conducting electricity.

What the numbers show

• Shirakawa was born in 1936 and died in 2026.
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000.
• He retired from the University of Tsukuba in 2000 after joining in 1979.

The accidental discovery at the Tokyo Institute of Technology was later confirmed through collaboration with Alan MacDiarmid and Alan Heeger at the University of Pennsylvania. Their joint research was published in 1977, and the three scientists were later recognized with the Nobel Prize.

Shirakawa joined the University of Tsukuba in 1979, where he continued his academic work until his retirement as professor emeritus in 2000. His contributions to the field of conductive polymers have been acknowledged internationally.

The Nobel Prize awarded to Shirakawa, MacDiarmid, and Heeger in 2000 highlighted the importance of their discovery for materials science. Their work demonstrated that plastics could be engineered to conduct electricity, expanding the potential applications of polymers in technology.

Shirakawa’s research career included decades of academic service and collaboration with other scientists. His work remains a reference point in the study of advanced materials and polymer chemistry.

* This article is based on publicly available information at the time of writing.