Nobel Prize Winner To Speak At Colorado State University Jan. 28
Tuesday, January 6, 1998
FORT COLLINS--Richard Smalley, 1996 winner of the Nobel
Prize in chemistry for his discovery of a new molecular form for
carbon, will speak at Colorado State University Jan. 28.
Smalley, a chemistry professor at Rice University in
Houston, Texas, will discuss his research and how the discovery
of these carbon molecules could serve as a catalyst for the
development of new and stronger materials.
Smalley's presentation begins at 4 p.m. in Room A-103
Chemistry Building at Colorado State. The event, sponsored by the
chemistry department, College of Natural Sciences and the Vice
President for Research and Information Technology, is free and
open to the public.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Smalley and
his colleagues--Professor Harold Kroto from the University of
Sussex in the United Kingdom and Robert Curl Jr., also a
professor at Rice University--the Nobel Prize in chemistry for
their discovery of C60, a structure of 60 carbon atoms tightly
bound in the form of a soccer ball. Upon discovering this new
form of carbon, the team characterized and confirmed their
initial identification using a series of other laboratory
experiments.
Previously, only six crystalline forms of the element carbon
were known. The team's discovery of C60 and its symmetrical shape
surprised many physicists and chemists, because popular theory
held that all symmetrical forms of carbon had already been
identified. Today, a whole new area of chemistry focuses on C60
and its potential use in new catalysts and materials, including
electrical conductors.
Smalley's visit to Colorado State is of particular interest
to chemistry Professor Elliot Bernstein, who served as Smalley's
graduate advisor when he was a professor at Princeton University
in the early 1970s. As a graduate student, Smalley worked with
Bernstein on the properties of molecular crystals, energy
transfer in crystals and crystal behavior.
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