Prolific US inventor dies

Stanford R. Ovshinsky, who invented the nickel-metal hybrid battery and a host of other devices, died at his Michigan home, his family says. He was 89. Ovshinsky, who was largely self-taught and contributed to the development devices such as solar energy panels, flat-panel displays and rewritable compact discs, died Wednesday of prostate cancer, The New York Times reported. He died at his home in Bloomfield Hills, his son Harvey said. Ovshinsky was a commercially successful scientist who shepherded many of his ideas into practical, useful products. His nickel-metal battery technology is used to power hybrid cars, portable electronics and many other devices. Ovshinsky held patents relating to rewritable optical discs, flat-panel displays, electronic-memory technology and thin-film solar cells. The Economist magazine, in an article about him titled "The Edison of Our Age?" placed him in "the league of genius inventors."