Limits RegistryPUBLIC RECORD
Limits RegistryRobert Curl, Harold Kroto, and Richard Smalley discovered buckminsterfullerene (C60) in 1985 while vaporizing graphite with a laser to simulate conditions in carbon stars, finding an unexpectedly stable 60-carbon cluster shaped like a soccer ball — a discovery that founded the field of fullerene and carbon nanomaterial chemistry and earned the trio the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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Robert Curl, Harold Kroto, and Richard Smalley discovered buckminsterfullerene (C60) in 1985 while vaporizing graphite with a laser to simulate conditions in carbon stars, finding an unexpectedly stable 60-carbon cluster shaped like a soccer ball — a discovery that founded the field of fullerene and carbon nanomaterial chemistry and earned the trio the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The first documented discovery and structural identification of buckminsterfullerene (C60), a spherical carbon allotrope, marking the discovery of the third major form of pure carbon after diamond and graphite.
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Limits Registry. LR-FIRST-SYNTHESIS-BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE. First synthesis and identification of buckminsterfullerene (C60). 2026.