Materials · 1985

Buckminsterfullerene

A 60-atom carbon soccer ball reveals a new form of carbon.

Harold Kroto, Richard Smalley and Robert Curl found C60 in 1985 by laser vaporizing graphite. It opened carbon nanomaterials research and won the 1996 Nobel Prize.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Laser 1960

What it led to 1

Carbon nanotubes 1991