Christina Lampe-Önnerud

Thanks to her, your Tesla has a battery that won’t catch fire.

Most people have no idea who powers their phones, laptops, or Teslas.

But behind the lithium-ion revolution is a Swedish chemist who once made fireworks in her bathtub.

Meet Christina Lampe-Önnerud.

Chemist, opera singer, choir director, and founder of not one, but two groundbreaking battery companies.

In the early 2000s, Christina was one of the youngest partners at Arthur D. Little, running the company’s battery labs while most of the world still thought “energy storage” meant a power strip.

But she had a bigger vision and the science to back it.

So in 2005, she launched Boston-Power, a company that would reshape how we think about lithium-ion batteries.

Her focus? Safety, sustainability, and performance.

Not just for gadgets, but for the planet.

Her work earned her the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer Award in 2010 and in 2018.

She advised the U.S. State Department, the EU, and the UN on clean tech and energy innovation.

She was named Swedish Woman of the Year, received the King’s Medal in 2022, and holds 80+ patents across materials, products, and processes.

But she didn’t stop there.

In 2012, she founded Cadenza Innovation, a company built to do what no one else dared: create battery packs that are cheaper, safer, modular, and actually green.

Her ceramic insert design? It’s been called an “energy LEGO-brick” that could power everything from Teslas to city grids.

And while tech giants scrambled to solve EV fires and thermal runaway, Christina’s team was already licensing their designs globally.

Proving that real safety doesn’t come from spin, it comes from science.

She’s been on 500+ media features.

Served on boards from MIT Chemistry to ON Semiconductor to FuelCell Energy.

And somehow, she’s also directed two women’s choruses and raised a family.