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Richard E. Smalley
1943–2005 · United States · Contemporary
Nobel Chemistry 1996
American chemist who co-discovered C₆₀ buckminsterfullerene and later championed carbon nanotubes, becoming a leading voice of nanotechnology.
Nobel Prize work
Shared with Robert Curl and Harold Kroto for the discovery of fullerenes. Using laser vaporization of graphite in a supersonic beam and mass spectrometry, they found a remarkably stable C₆₀ cluster and deduced its hollow soccer-ball cage — the first molecular allotrope of carbon, seeding fullerene and nanotube science.
Fields
Related topics
Non-metals: chlorine, carbon, silicon
Compare molecular chlorine with network and layered forms of carbon and silicon compounds.
Carbon nanotubes, graphene, 2D materials
Relate carbon bonding and dimensionality to the electronic, mechanical, and optical properties of nanotubes, graphene, and other atomically thin materials.