[Science&Health]: Nobel laureate set to talk nanotech
By Seema Sharma
April 10, 2006 9:00 p.m.
A Nobel Prize-winning researcher from the team that discovered
“buckyballs” will be speaking about nanotechnology at
UCLA today as part of the bimonthly seminar series presented by the
California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.
Harold Kroto won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1996 for his
efforts with Robert Curl Jr. and Richard Smalley in discovering
buckminsterfullerene, a form of pure carbon better known as
“buckyballs” and one of several types of
fullerenes.
Today, Kroto will be speaking about architecture in
nanospace.
For many it is difficult to imagine complex systems the size of
one billionth the diameter of the human hair interacting. But for
the past 10 years, scientists have been able to look into
developing molecules at the microscopic level with specified
structure and function. The research done at the molecular level is
now being followed up by development on the macroscale.
Kroto’s talk will focus on these rapid developments, which
have the potential to provide stronger and more ergonomic
materials.
The California NanoSystems Institute, which is hosting the talk,
is a research center run jointly by UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. The
main purpose of the institute is to promote public awareness of
nanotechnology.
“Nanoscience is the coming together of different fields
like biology, chemistry and physics. This multidisciplinary
research is forcing scientists to mingle with other disciplines in
order to solve problems of today’s world,” said
Jennifer Marcus, marketing director for the institute.
Richard Kaner, professor of chemistry at UCLA, said the
discovery of fullerenes in 1996 was a groundbreaking achievement
because it was a new form of an element.
Carbon nanotubes, which are basically “a sheet of graphite
wrapped around, with half-fullerenes as caps, are one of the
stiffest materials. They are good conductors of heat and energy,
are cheap, and are very useful. There’s nothing inherently
expensive about them; it’s just expensive to isolate them
from the things that are around them in nature,” Kaner
said.
Scientists say the stiffness of these nanotubes is what makes
them so potentially useful for use in buildings and aeroplanes.
In the buckminsterfullerene molecule, 60 carbon atoms are
arranged as a spheroid, in a pattern that matches the stitching on
soccer balls. The configuration of the molecule reminded Kroto of
the geodesic domes designed by Buckminster Fuller in the 1950s,
resulting in the name “buckminsterfullerene.”
Stephanie Tjioe, events coordinator for the institute, said it
is an honor to have Kroto come and speak.
“Most of this research is really relevant to what’s
going on today in the field of chemistry (and) nanotechnology and
nanoscience,” she said.
“He’s one of those figures (who) people would want
to sit down and listen to.”
With reports from Shauntel Lowe, Bruin senior
staff.
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