Making rechargeable batteries more powerful, cheaper, and longer-lasting benefits just about everyone. "Not a very good student in school," Phil Bennett didn't get into any of the major Florida universities but grew interested in science in community college and meeting Nobel laureates while working summers at the Miami Museum of Science. He helped develop Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, and his company has pioneered the use of the next generation of Lithium-ion batteries.

TRANSCRIPT:

Intro: 0:20

Inventors and their inventions. Welcome to Radio Cade, the podcast from the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida. The museum is named after James Robert Cade who invented Gatorade in 1965. My name is Richard Miles. We'll introduce you to inventors and the things that motivate them. We'll learn about their personal stories, how their inventions work, and how their ideas get from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Richard Miles: 0:40

This morning I have as my guest, Phil Bennett, who is a native Floridian and spent a lot of his career working in advanced rechargeable batteries. Welcome, Phil.

Phil Bennett: 0:49

Thank you.

Richard Miles: 0:49

So Phil, before we start talking about the heavy duty stuff on the technology, let's talk about you a little bit. I understand you're from Miami, born and raised there. What was it like growing up in Miami and sort of how did you end up in Gainesville?

Phil Bennett: 1:01

Well, I grew up in the southern part of Miami. I was about two miles from Biscayne Bay and maybe two or three miles from the everglades, so I had water everywhere and there were homes but not really close together. So I had a lot of opportunities to get out and see nature, which is now an important part of my life. I love the water, I love to fish and boat and I grew up there, went to elementary, middle school, high school there. I was not a very good student in public schools and I always had an interest in science, but as I was in my teenage years, science wasn't cool and I always felt that the girls didn't like science. So if the girls didn't like science...

Richard Miles: 1:44

What's the point, right?

Phil Bennett: 1:45

Right. I wasn't going to show that I was interested in it, although there was always that deep feeling that I enjoyed it and I was not able actually to get into the University of Florida, Florida State, or the University of Miami because of my high school grades and the courses that I took. I actually had no intention of going on to college and ended up taking some courses at the community college in Miami called the junior college, Miami Dade Junior College. And I was working at a machine shop and it was a small family owned machine shop. The owners recommended that I start taking some engineering courses. I guess he saw some potential in me as an engineer and the first time I took a chemistry course or anything beyond Algebra was when I was at the community college. And I really started enjoying it and I was fascinated with science again. So it kind of rekindled that idea of how important science was to me.

Richard Miles: 2:38

Right. Let's back up a little bit. So you're in in Miami as a kid, you said close to water and so on and out and about. I assume your parents probably had no idea where you were right...

Phil Bennett: 2:49

That's pretty much true. Yeah. My Dad had a small grocery store