Symmetry, Space, Stars, and C60 (Nobel Lecture)

Basic research must continue to be supported! This is one of the conclusions clearly evident from the story behind the discovery of the fullerenes. The questions to which answers were originally sought would not have been posed within the current confines of programs aimed increasingly at applied research. This and the fascination associated with C 60 and other members of the fullerene family are the central messages in this Nobel lecture.