Nobel Chemist Harry Kroto and Buckyballs

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03/20/2009

Mar. 20, 2009

Nobel Chemist Harry Kroto and Buckyballs

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In the 1980s a group of chemists discovered a beautiful soccer ball-shaped carbon molecule, naming it "buckminsterfullerene" after Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes. The carbon balls, also known as "buckyballs," had been under the noses of scientists for centuries: they are present even in candle soot. Today their basic research discovery has become the basis for next-generation nanomaterials such as "buckypaper." In this hour, we'll talk with one of the chemists who discovered buckyballs, Nobel prize-winner Harry Kroto. We're broadcasting this week from the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, as part of the Origins '09 Symposium.

Produced by Christopher Intagliata, Associate Senior Producer

Guests

Harry Kroto
Winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Florida State University

Tallahassee, Florida

Discussion

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