The Discovery of Fullerenes

"Suppose we could find a material that is hundreds of times stronger than steel. Suppose that same material could also be used to make electronic circuits much smaller than today's silicon-based computer chips? Well, such a material has been discovered and I was fortunate to be a member of one of the teams of scientists that discovered it - by accident."

Bernd Eggen

The discovery of C₆₀ is a wonderful example of serendipity: unexpected discovery. None of the researchers involved had set out to "discover" the fullerene, also known as C₆₀ because it is a molecule made up of 60 carbon atoms. The investigations would be described as "blue sky research" or "basic science" -- research that has no immediate practical application, but is interesting from a scientific point of view, and may result in useful products some time in the future. Sadly, this type of research can be found less and less in today's academic institutions, where most activities are funded only if they are "relevant" or "applied".


A Gallery of Carbon from left, Diamond, Graphite, Carbon Chain, C60, C70 and Nanotube

Insight and Foresight

Paradigms are sets of assumptions underlying science. They tend to work well in an established field, where they help further discoveries by giving scientists a base of knowledge upon which to develop research and new hypotheses. But when new areas emerge or scientific revolutions are about to take place the paradigms may be overturned, often by young researchers. The central paradigm that was toppled by the discovery of the fullerene was the view that carbon exists in only two principal forms: graphite and diamond.

Serendipity in Science

Sometimes scientists make discoveries by accident while looking for something else.

In 1669 the alchemist Hennig Brand was on a quest to make gold. His strategy was to evaporate urine and then heat the resulting solid in a closed flask. He didn't get gold, but he did isolate the element phosphorus, which was so named because it glowed.
In 1856 William Henry Perkin was working with aniline, a compound that is found in coal tar. His goal was to synthesize quinine, a drug used to treat malaria. In the course of his experiments he derived a black precipitate from aniline and dissolved it in alcohol. The result was a purple liquid that he found to be a very effective and stable dye for silk.
During World War I a particularly insidious weapon was mustard gas, a poison which caused inflammation of the skin, mucous membranes, eyes and lungs, often resulting in death. Doctors treating victims found that they had low white blood cell counts. This discovery led to research that resulted in the development of nitrogen mustard, a chemotherapy drug which is almost identical to mustard gas. It is still used today to treat certain types of lymphoma.
In 1938 the German Chemist Otto Hahn accidentally discovered nuclear fission. He was trying to create heavy atoms by bombarding lighter atoms with neutrons. He hoped that the neutrons would be absorbed into the nuclei of the targeted atoms making them larger. Instead he found that he had produced several isotopes of Barium, which were much lighter than uranium. Rather than being absorbed, the neutrons had split the nuclei. As you will learn on the next page, Hahn also inadvertently played a role in our story of the discovery of the fullerene.

Or log in with...

Science Article