When I first studied Chemistry, I learned that there are two allotropes of carbon: graphite and diamond. As you know, these two forms of pure carbon have dramatically different mechanical, electrical, optical and thermal properties. Then, in the early 1990s, I read with excitement about a new form of pure carbon, carbon-60, which consists of 60 carbon atoms bonded together in a polyhedral structure which resembles a soccer ball:
[ image source ]
This novel molecule was named Buckminsterfullerene (after Buckminster Fuller), and is colloquially called buckyball. The beautiful carbon-60 molecule was discovered in the mid-1980s at Rice University by Robert F. Curl Jr., James R. Heath, Sir Harold W. Kroto, Sean C. O’Brien, and Richard E. Smalley by vaporizing carbon with a laser beam and allowing the carbon atoms to reconstitute in clusters with a “soccer-ball-like” structure. The following documentary (divided in 5 parts) tells the exciting story of this discovery:
[ part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 ]
In 1996, Bob Curl, Harry Kroto and Rick Smalley won the Nobel prize in Chemistry for the discovery of carbon-60.
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