Nano-tech pioneer dies

The 62 year-old Richard Smalley started his career at Rice University building beam-and-laser machines that could vaporize material, leaving individual atoms in the residue.

Smalley, along with Robert Curl at Rice and Sir Harold Kroto of University of Sussex, discovered fullerene, or buckyball which contained 60 carbon atoms arranged in a sphere.

The buckyball was strong and lightweight, and had electrical properties. Its discovery helped fuel an explosion of nanotechnology research.

Smalley's research group also worked out a way to produce large quantities of carbon nanotubes, which has also been vital in the development of nanotechnology.

He went on to found Carbon Nanotechnologies in 2000, to produce large quantities of nanotubes for research and commercialisation.

He is survived by his wife, Deborah Lynn Smalley, and two sons. More here. µ