Perfect Symmetry - The Unexpected Discovery of Fullerenes

Author: Li Tao Bagot
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-05-01
Features: In 1966, it was an interesting idea. By September 1985, it was a paper ball stuck together with adhesive tape, the result of six intense days of scientific discussion and inspiration. Five years later, it finally became a reality: a perfectly symmetrical soccer-ball-shaped molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms, named fullerene. This new molecule is a new member of the carbon "family," apart from diamond and graphite. Its discoveryed our understanding of this very familiar element. It announced the birth of a new chemistry, a series of new high-temperature superconductors, and some entirely new "large carbon structure" architectural design concepts. In 1996, the protagonists of this book—Croat, Smalley, and Koel—shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.