Carbon-60, C-60, fullerenes, fullerite, buckyballs, buckytubes.

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"A third form of carbon first discovered in interstellar clouds. Buckminsterfullerene is a spherical molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms. The strongest form of the three carbons.

"Named after R.Buckminster Fuller, whose synergetic geometry provided the basis for understanding the shape of this molecule." --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 1997).

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"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 ... 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." -- (from the preface to Perfect Symmetry by Jim Baggot, 1994).

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"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." -- (from the jacket blurb to Perfect Symmetry by Jim Baggot, UK hbk, 1994).

• Perfect Symmetry by Jim Baggot
  (1994, non-fiction... about the discovery of Buckminsterfullerene... this entry contains the entire preface by Jim Baggot)

Advanced Technology Glossary
(compiled by the MIT Nanotechnology Study Group)

Bucky News Service
("abstracts of recent papers on Fullerene Research")

C60 Vibrational Spectrum
(fullerene spectroscopy)

The Fullerene Group
("vibrational spectroscopy of fullerenes and conducting polymers"... serious stuff)

Fullerene Group Home Page
(molecular science... University of Sussex)

USB Buckyball Home Page
(buckminsterfullerene, carbon-60... images, info, animation, links... courtesy of Suny at Stony Brook)