Prof. Jeff Dahn

Jeff Dahn is recognized as one of the pioneering developers of the lithium-ion battery that is now used worldwide in laptop computers, cell-phones and electric vehicles.  Dahn's recent work has concentrated on increasing the energy density, improving the lifetime and lowering the cost of lithium-ion batteries.  He is the author of over 820 refereed journal papers and co-inventor of 78 inventions with patents issued or filed.

Jeff Dahn was born in Bridgeport, Conn. in 1957 and emigrated with his family to Nova Scotia, Canada in 1970.  He obtained his B.Sc. in Physics from Dalhousie University (1978) and his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1982.  Dahn then worked at the National Research Council of Canada (82-85) and at Moli Energy Limited (85-90) before taking up a faculty position in the Physics Department at Simon Fraser University in 1990.  He returned to Dalhousie University in 1996.

Jeff Dahn has trained over 65 Ph.D. Students and 30 Postdoctoral fellows.  Of these, 14 are faculty members at Universities and 7 are CEOs of their own companies.    During his teaching career at Dalhousie from 1996 to 2021, Jeff taught first year Physics to over 8000 engineering students.

Jeff has received numerous awards including: International Battery Materials Association (IBA) Research Award (1995); Herzberg Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists (1996); ECS Battery Division Research Award (1996); Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2001);  Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2009) from the Canadian Assoc. of Physicists,  the ECS Battery Division Technology Award (2011), the Yeager award from the International Battery Materials Association (2016), the Inaugural Govenor General's Innovation Award (2016), the Gerhard Herzberg Gold Medal in Science and Engineering (Canada's top Science Award - 2017), the Killam Prize (2022) and the Olin Palladium Medal from the Electrochemical Society (its highest honor) in 2023.

Jeff and his wife, Kathy reside in Halifax, Nova Scotia, as do their three children and their spouses.  All are graduates of Dalhousie University.  Jeff and Kathy have 5 grandchildren so far.

Look at Jeff Dahn's CV.

Jeff likes to go to Lunenburg when he is not at the lab. In this photo his logs are ready for the portable saw mill!