PORCELAINia
BUCKMINSTER FULLER PRESENTATION SERIES

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"Beta," a spherical porcelain buckyball was the second piece of the Buckminster Fuller Presentation Series. It was presented to Richard Smalley on February 17, 1997 who co-discovered and named buckminsterfullerene C60 molecule in 1985. Professor Smalley, whose Rice University laboratory was long known for its supersonnic beam experiments in cluster chemistry, now spearheads research on fullerenes and their applications in the burgeoning field of molecular nanotechnology. He is founder of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST) at Rice University, Houston, Texas. Richard Smalley's recent endeavors with nanotechnology has led him to deem buckminsterfullerene, "The Rosetta Stone of Nanoscale Architecture" and the "Archetypal Fullerene." This fact makes it even more appropriate to celebrate its beauty in porcelain, the jewel of manmade stone featuring such an "archetypal fullerene" in a lasting, sculpturally symbolic way. Smalley, a professor of chemistry and physics can be reached at the Rice University's Department of Chemistry or at Rice University's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology. Many of his recent research reports and articles can be found through his personal home page on the World Wide Web. Professor Smalley was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Harold Kroto and Robert Curl in 1996. Return to Presentation Series Introduction Page