ISBN 0-19-855790-6 (UK hbk)

"Inside l966, it was an amusing idea. In September 1985, it was a ball of paper and sticky tape, the result of six days of intense scientific discussion and one moment of inspiration. Five years later it was finally real: a perfectly symmetrical soccer-ball shaped molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms and called buckminsterfullerene.

"This new molecule - one of a large family of carbon cage molecules called 'fullerenes' - represents a new form of carbon in addition to diamond and graphite. Its discovery has revolutionized our understanding of this once most familiar of all elements. It has heralded a new chemistry, a new range of high-temperature superconductors, and some marvelous new concepts in the architecture of large carbon structures. Carbon will never be the same again.

"In Perfect Symmetry , prize-winning science writer Jim Baggot tells the story of the accidental discovery of buckminsterfullerene, from its origins in the cold chemistry of interstellar clouds to the development of the fast-growing field of fullerene science. It is a story full of surprises." [jacket blurb, UK hbk, 1994]

"It is said that chemistry is a mature science.

"Now by its very nature, a mature science is going to be rather conservative, perhaps somewhat staid, stuffy, and predictable. It will not hold much by way of genuine surprises. To those not confronted every day by the mysteries of chemistry at the frontiers, it may even appear a little dull.

"Setting aside the contributions of the alchemists, chemistry as an investigative science has an illustrious history stretching back some 300 years or so. Even for those scientists working away at the edges, the sheer volume of accumulated knowledge, wisdom, and understanding can weigh heavily. The scientists expect to find some intriguing new facts about the chemical world; they expect to confirm what they think they already know or to have their prejudices reinforced. But looking back over a 300-year legacy does little to raise their expectations of discovering fundamental discrepancies between the world as they understand it and the world as it is. They do not greatly expect to discover something that does not fit.

"When that something extraordinary eventually happens, it shocks the scientists from their complacency and they begin to realize that they do not fully understand everything. In some very fundamental respects, they do not understand the world as it is. Instead of answers that fit the pattern or confirm the theories, they are faced only with questions. Science comes alive once again because, of course, answers are of only fleeting interest. It is the questions that fascinate.

"In l966 the notion of hollow graphite 'balloons' was no more than an amusing idea - a distraction for the entertainment of readers of the weekly popular science magazine New Scientist . Now this is not the kind of periodical that the experts hold much store by. If asked, they would have probably dismissed these structures as interesting, even theoretically possible, but obviously wholly impractical as candidates for synthesis in the laboratory. 'We should know,' they might have said, 'We are the experts.'

"Then, nearly twenty years later, a team of American and British chemists made a rather startling, if accidental, discovery. Out of the chaos of a plasma of carbon atoms and ions produced in an intense pulse of laser light there emerged spontaneously what they believed was a perfectly spherical molecule made up of exactly sixty carbon atoms. A molecule shaped like a soccer ball. There was more. Buckminsterfullerene (as it was to be called) was but one of a whole series of new, hollow-cage molecules. It seemed only slightly less likely a possibility than a bunch of monkeys toying randomly with words of the English language, and coming up with a Shakespeare play.

"Some scientists were sceptical, but when in 1990 a team of physicists - physicists! - announced that they had accidentally discovered a way to make buckminsterfullerene and a few of its relatives in amounts that you could see and touch, all scepticism vanished. Literally overnight countless encyclopaedias and all the textbooks on the chemistry, physics, and materials science of carbon were rendered instantly out of date. There were not two, but three basic forms of carbon: diamond, graphite, and now fullerite.

"To put all this in context, try to imagine what it might be like if diamond itself was to be discovered tomorrow. In our hypothetical world of today there are no diamond cutting tools and no diamond engagement rings. Some of the less pragmatic scientists dream of diamond's elegant structure - imagine! a tetrahedral arrangement of carbon atoms! - and even calculate the kinds of properties it might have if it existed. Experts in carbon chemistry and materials science with their feet planted more firmly on the ground dismiss these notions as imaginative but irrelevant to the real world. By morning, their world has been turned upside-down.

"Of course, this is fantasy. Diamond has been known to mankind for thousands of years and it is very difficult to imagine a world in which twentieth century science had somehow managed to overlook its existence. And yet, in the case of buckminsterfullerene, this is exactly what modern science has done for most of the twentieth century.

"There were yet further surprises in store. By 1994 a thriving 'three-dimensional' fullerene chemistry (and biochemistry) had developed. A new range of high-temperature organic superconductors had been found, many with properties that set new records. New large-scale carbon architectures had been discovered - including the hollow graphite balloons of 1966 - at once both marvellous and elegant. A great many questions remain unanswered and nobody knows if there are more surprises still to come.

"The story of the discovery of buckminsterfullerene and its aftermath serves as an important case study, with object lessons for the organization and funding of basic science, for the sponsors of commercial R & D, for the scientists' own perceptions of themselves and their science, and for the perceptions of ordinary people about how scientific progress is made. It is a good story, and in Perfect Symmetry I have tried my best to do it justice.

"I could not have even begun to tell this story without the support and encouragement of many busy scientists who gave of their time to talk to me or write to me about their experiences.

"I have dedicated this book to my daughter, who arrived on the scene just as I was about to get stuck into the first draft. Without her, my life would certainly have been emptier, but the book would have been finished a darn sight more quickly." --Jim Baggot (preface to Perfect Symmetry , Reading, May 1994).

"The discovery of buckminsterfullerene (C60) is a profound event, and its impact on society is yet to be told. Stay tuned." --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , November 1994).