Nobel Prize For Sir Harry
Harry Kroto has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
News came through on Wednesday afternooon that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences had decided to award the l996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Sir Harry, and US scientists Robert Curl and Richard Smalley for their discovery of fullerenes.
The discovery, described by the Academy as "sensational", was originally made in l985 when the scientists discovered a form of carbon in which 60 atoms are linked together in the form of a sphere. This form of carbon is now universally known as fullerene or, more colloquially, Buckyballs.
This is the first Nobel science award for the UK in 8 years. Many congratulations to our new Nobel Laureate who, in one of his many press interviews described this Wednesday as "the greatest day of my life."