Ian McKellen leads tributes to Nobel Prize winner Harry Kroto
Actor Sir Ian McKellen led tributes to his childhood friend and Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir Harry Kroto at a celebration day on campus last week.
The actor told an audience of Harry’s friends, academic colleagues and former students about his decades-long relationship with the world-leading scientist.
He recalled: “We were fortunate to go to a school where whatever you wanted to do – whether that was playing clarinet, in the arts or on the sports field, they backed you with whatever you wanted to do. It gave us enormous self-confidence.”
Harry, one of three Sussex professors who became Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, died at the age of 76 in April this year.
The celebration day on 26 August was held in honour of his memory, achievements and worldwide influence on a generation of scientists.
Harry discovered a new form of carbon, the molecule C60, or "Buckminsterfullerene". This football-shaped molecule led to changes in the way chemists think and to developments in materials and nanotechnology, and led to his Nobel prize in 1996.
He was always ready to acknowledge that the discovery of C60 would not have been possible without the collaboration of physicists, astronomers and chemists of all backgrounds, but it was his imagination, lateral thinking, persistence and inspiration that brought these collaborations together.
Harry was showered with honours including 42 honorary degrees and the major honours of the Royal Society. He was president of the Royal Society of Chemistry from 2002-04, when he did much to lobby the Government about the importance of chemistry, and science in general.
In 2005 Harry accepted a chair at the University of Florida at Tallahassee, where he continued to study how C60 is formed.
He returned to the UK when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and continued until the last few months of his life to accept speaking engagements.
For photos and tributes from the celebration event, see below.