Houston, TX, United States
In this building in early September 1985, a team of scientists discovered a previously unknown pure carbon molecule, C60, which they dubbed buckminsterfullerene. The name was chosen because the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller provided a clue that the molecule’s atoms might be arranged in the fo
rm of a hollow cage. The structure, a truncated icosahedron with 32 faces, 12 pentagonal and 20 hexagonal, has the shape of a soccer ball. Nicknamed buckyballs, this first known stable molecular form
Listen to the audio guide for Robert Curl, Harry Kroto, and Richard Smalley plaque Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off