Stanford graduate Richard Post Ph. D. ’51 died last Tuesday at the age of 96. Post got his doctorate in physics at Stanford and became an inventor and scientist following his graduation. Post patented 34 inventions, and most recently served as a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Post conducted research into ways of storing energy better than existing batteries using a so-called “flywheel” system. Such a technology would be immensely useful in using renewable energy without needing to have coal-, natural gas-, nuclear- or oil-powered plants on hand to provide power when renewable sources were not actively producing power. Flywheels are currently used in aerospace applications. Flywheels work by spinning a rotor in a sealed chamber and hence storing kinetic energy. Energy is added to the flywheel by increasing the speed of the rotor and is withdrawn by using the rotor to power other systems.

Contact Caleb Smith at caleb17 ‘at’ stanford.edu.