Chemistry, Creativity, Collaboration, and C60: An Interview with Harold W. Kroto

Harold Kroto is Professor of Chemistry at Sussex University and President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He received his Ph.D. in 1964 for research work with R. N. Dixon on high resolution electronic spectra of free radicals produced by flash photolysis. After three years of postdoctoral research at the National Research Council in Ottawa, Canada, and Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, USA, he started his academic career at the University of Sussex (Brighton, UK) in 1967, where he became full professor in 1985. In 1991 he was made a Royal Society Research Professor and since 1990 he has been chairman of the editorial board of the Chemical Society Reviews. Harry Kroto’s research program has covered several interdisciplinary areas. His main research areas include: spectroscopy of unstable species and reaction intermediates (infrared, photoelectron, microwave, and mass spectrometry); cluster science (carbon and metal clusters, microparticles, and nanofibres); fullerenes (chemistry, physics and materials science); and astrophysics (interstellar molecules and circumstellar dust). As chairman of the board of the Vega Science Trust (http:// www.vega.org.uk), he promotes Vega’s work across the globe. The Vega Science Trust aims to make available a broadcast platform for science, engineering, and technology to show the true face of science as an important part of our cultural heritage. Harry Kroto is an enthusiastic and passionate man. He communicates his passion for science while giving lectures, presentations, and workshops to groups of all ages, including thousands of children. Outside of his scientific interests, Kroto likes playing tennis. His great passion, however, is graphic art and design: in 1964 he won the Sunday Times Book Jacket Design competition and in 1994 the Moët Hennessy–Louis Vuitton Science pour l’Art Prize. Kroto’s importance as one of the founders in the field of fullerene chemistry was acknowledged by having a knighthood conferred on him. His work has been recognized with many scientific awards and honorary degrees. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry along with Robert F. Curl, Jr. and Richard E. Smalley for their discovery of fullerenes (1).