On Wednesday, Mississippi State University will host a lecture by Sir Harold Kroto, 1996 Nobel Prize winner for chemistry. The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. in Bettersworth Auditorium in Lee Hall. His lecture will focus on his research and discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, or Buckyball, as it is commonly referred.
Ed Lewis, head of the Department of Chemistry, said this is a great opportunity for MSU’s chemistry department.
“We are really excited to have a scientist of Harold Kroto’s caliber come to Mississippi State,” Lewis said. “This is a great opportunity for the chemistry department to have someone of the stature of Harold Kroto come to visit.”
Peter Rabideau, professor of organic chemistry at MSU who is also in charge of the seminar program for the Department of Chemistry, said Kroto’s research is similar to his own. In fact, much research has been done and is currently being done involving the Buckyball and its close relative, the half-sized Buckybowl.
“My own research has been in a related area, so I am very familiar with his work,” Rabideau said.
Kroto, along with Robert Curl and Richard Smiley, through a collaboration between Rice University and the University of Sussex, won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their research and discovery of Buckminsterfullerene.
This molecule is made of 60 carbon atoms formed into a ball shape. Its name pays homage to Richard Buckminster Fuller who developed the architectural design of the geodesic dome, which is also the shape of the molecule. Buckeyball was first discovered in 1985.
Rabideau said discovering carbon chains in interstellar space was not a simple task. Interstellar space possesses conditions much different than those on earth’s surface, so the desired conditions had to be simulated. This was achieved with a machine that produced the proper conditions.
“This led to a whole new area in chemistry and nanotechnology,” he said.
Kroto’s lecture will be entitled “Carbon in Nano and Outer Space.” The atomic structure of the molecule, as well as its size, makes the Buckyball very useful in nanotechnology. The outline of the lecture can be found on the chemistry department’s website.
Kroto was born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England in 1939. He attended and received his degree in chemistry from the University of Sheffield in 1961. He began teaching and researching at the University of Sussex in England in 1967. From there, he became a full-time professor and later a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Sussex from 1991 until 2001. He is now the Francis Eppes Professor of Chemistry at Florida State University.
Candis McCool, receptionist for the Department of Chemistry, said students have an opportunity to meet Kroto personally and conduct a question-and-answer session with him. The meet and greet will be held at 1:15 p.m. in the conference room in Hand Hall prior to the lecture at 6 p.m.
She said she encourages students to sign up for this event in the chemistry department office on the bulletin board in the mailroom quickly, as there are only 50 seats available.
Emily Rowland, lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, said this is a very rare chance for students.
“This is a great, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet with a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry,” she said.