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Professor Sir Harold W. Kroto was a co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the Francis Eppes Professor of Biochemistry at Florida State University. Dr. Kroto was born in England and received his BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Sheffield in 1964. He joined the faculty of the University of Sussex in 1967 and became a professor of chemistry there in 1985. Along with Dr. Richard Smalley and Dr. Robert Curl, Dr. Kroto received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry based on their co-discovery of buckminsterfullerene, a form of pure carbon better known as "buckyballs." The extraordinary molecule consists of 60 carbon atoms arranged as a spheroid, in a pattern exactly matching the stitching on soccer balls. The geodesic domes designed by the late inventor/architect Buckminster Fuller were a clue to the likely structure at the time the molecule was discovered and so Kroto called it "buckminsterfullerene." The discovery of the Fullerenes as this class of hollow carbon cage compounds is now called, opened up an entirely new branch of chemistry. An ardent advocate for science education, Kroto devotes part of his time and energy to promoting careers in science among young people. Through a new GEO (Global Educational Outreach) Internet broadcasting initiative at FSU and the Vega Trust website, which Dr. Kroto founded, he is creating effective new broadcast platforms for the science, engineering and technology (SET) communities, to communicate directly on all aspects of their fields of expertise using the powerful new Internet and TV opportunities. | 