C60: Buckminsterfullerene, The Celestial Sphere that Fell to Earth

Abstract

In 1975–1978 the long‐chained polyynylcyanides, HC 5 N, HC 7 N, and HC 9 N were surprisingly discovered in the cold dark clouds of interstellar space by radioastronomy. The subsequent quest for their source indicated that they were being blown out of red giant, carbon stars. In 1985 carbon‐cluster experiments aimed at simulating the chemistry in such stars confirmed these objects as likely sources. During these cluster studies a serendipitous discovery was made; a stable pure‐carbon species, C 60, formed spontaneously in a chaotic plasma produced by a laser focused on a graphite target. A closed spheroidal cage structure was proposed for this molecule, which was to become the third well‐characterized allotrope of carbon and was named buckminsterfullerene. It has taken five years to produce sufficient material to prove the correctness of this conjecture. There may be a timely object lesson in the fact that exciting new and strategically important fields of chemistry and materials science have been discovered overnight due to fundamental research, much of which was unable to attract financial support, and all of which was stimulated by a fascination with the role of carbon in space and stars. In this account, interesting aspects of this discovery, its origins, and its sequel are presented. The story has many facets, some of which relate to the way scientific discoveries are made.