Kroto Lecture at Constant Center

Nobel Laureate Sir Harry Kroto, the chemist who has helped to develop some of the most important building blocks of nanotechnology, delivered an impassioned and entertaining defense of scientific freedom to an audience of about 500 in the Big Blue Room of the Ted Constant Convocation Center recently.

With sound effects, colorful visuals and no shortage of humor, Kroto took the audience on a whirlwind tour of the discovery of C-60, soccer-ball-like molecules that may someday be used to create materials that will revolutionize electronics and civil engineering.

He won a Nobel Prize for development of the C-60 molecules, but he was quick to point out that this was an accidental, or "left-field discovery." He urged the many students in the audience, including some from middle and high schools, to build a world that believes in free-ranging scientific inquiry. "It is important to do science and recognize what is not discovered through strategic research," he said.

Kroto has recently joined the faculty at Florida State University. A native of England, he was on the faculty of the University of Sussex for 35 years.

The speech, which Kroto titled "2010: NanoSpace Odyssey," was sponsored by Old Dominion University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and works with College of Sciences chemistry researchers on bringing nanotechnology to ODU.

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Phyllis Brown, Editor
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