Education Kroto was educated at Bolton School and went to the University of Sheffield in 1958, where he obtained a first-class honours BSc degree in Chemistry (1961) and a PhD in Molecular Spectroscopy (1964). In 1975, he became a full professor of Chemistry. This coincided with laboratory microwave measurements with Sussex colleague David Walton on long linear carbon chain molecules, leading to radio astronomy observations with Canadian astronomers surprisingly revealing that these unusual carbonaceous species exist in relatively large abundances in interstellar space as well as the outer atmospheres of certain stars – the carbon-rich red giants.
Discovery of buckminsterfullerene In 1985, on the basis of the Sussex studies and the stellar discoveries, laboratory experiments (with co-workers
James R. Heath, Sean C. O'Brien, Yuan Liu,
Robert Curl and
Richard Smalley at Rice University) which simulated the chemical reactions in the atmospheres of the red giant stars demonstrated that stable
C60 molecules could form spontaneously from a condensing carbon vapour. The co-investigators directed
lasers at graphite and examined the results. The C60 molecule is a molecule with the same symmetry pattern as a football, consisting of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons of carbon atoms. Kroto named the molecule buckminsterfullerene, after
Buckminster Fuller who had conceived of the
geodesic domes, as the dome concept had provided a clue to the likely structure of the new species. In 1985, the C60 discovery caused Kroto to shift the focus of his research from spectroscopy in order to probe the consequences of the C60 structural concept (and prove it correct) and to exploit the implications for chemistry and material science. This research is significant for the discovery of a new
allotrope of carbon known as a
fullerene. Other
allotropes of carbon include
graphite, diamond and
graphene. Kroto's 1985 paper entitled "C60: Buckminsterfullerene", published with colleagues J. R. Heath, S. C. O'Brien, R. F. Curl, and R. E. Smalley, was honored by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, presented to Rice University in 2015. At FSU he carried out fundamental research on: Carbon vapour with Professor Alan Marshall; Open framework condensed phase systems with strategically important electrical and magnetic behaviour with Professors Naresh Dalal (FSU) and Tony Cheetham (Cambridge); and the mechanism of formation and properties of nano-structured systems. In addition, he participated in research initiatives at FSU that probed the astrochemistry of fullerenes, metallofullerenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in stellar/circumstellar space, as well as their relevance to stardust.
Educational outreach and public service In 1995, he jointly set up the
Vega Science Trust, a UK educational charity that created high quality science films including lectures and interviews with Nobel Laureates, discussion programmes, careers and teaching resources for TV and Internet Broadcast. Vega produced over 280 programmes, that streamed for free from the Vega website which acted as a TV science channel. The trust closed in 2012. 2011 In 2009, Kroto led the development of a second science education initiative,
Geoset. Short for the Global Educational Outreach for Science, Engineering and Technology, GEOSET is an online cache of recorded teaching modules that are freely downloadable to educators and the public. The program aims to increase knowledge of the sciences by creating a global repository of educational videos and presentations from leading universities and institutions. In 2003, prior to the Blair/Bush
invasion of Iraq on the pretext that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, Kroto initiated and organised the publication of a letter to be signed by a dozen UK Nobel Laureates and published in
The Times. It was composed by his friend the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate the late
Sir Joseph Rotblat and published in
The Times on 15 February 2003. He wrote a set of articles, mostly opinion pieces, from 2002 to 2003 for the
Times Higher Education Supplement, a weekly UK publication. From 2002 to 2004, Kroto served as president of the
Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2004, he was appointed to the
Francis Eppes Professorship in the chemistry department at Florida State University, carrying out research in
nanoscience and
nanotechnology. He spoke at
Auburn University on 29 April 2010, and at the
James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at
Rice University with
Robert Curl on 13 October 2010. In October 2010, Kroto participated in the
USA Science and Engineering Festival's Lunch with a Laureate program where middle and high school students had the opportunity to engage in an informal conversation with a Nobel Prize–winning scientist. He spoke at
Mahatma Gandhi University, at
Kottayam, in
Kerala, India in January 2011, where he was an 'Erudite' special invited lecturer of the Government of Kerala, from 5 to 11 January 2011. Kroto spoke at
CSICon 2011, a convention "dedicated to scientific inquiry and critical thinking" organized by the
Committee for Skeptical Inquiry in association with
Skeptical Inquirer magazine and the
Center for Inquiry. He also delivered the
IPhO 2012 lecture at the International Physics Olympiad held in Estonia. In 2014, Kroto spoke at the
Starmus Festival in the Canary Islands, delivering a lecture about his life in science, chemistry, and design. ==Personal life==