Richard Smalley
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Richard Errett Smalley (June 6, 1943 – October 28, 2005) was the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University, in Houston, Texas. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for the discovery of a new form of carbon, buckminsterfullerene ("buckyballs") (with Robert Curl, also a professor of chemistry at Rice, and Harold Kroto, a professor at the University of Sussex).
Smalley was born in Akron, Ohio and attended Hope College before transferring to the University of Michigan where he received his B.S. in 1965. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1973. He completed postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago, with Lennard Wharton and Donald Levy, where he was a pioneer in the development supersonic beam laser spectroscopy.
Smalley's latest research was focused on carbon nanotubes, specifically focusing on the chemical synthesis side of nanotube research. He is well-known for his group's invention of the high-pressure carbon monoxide (HiPco) method of producing large batches of high-quality nanotubes. Smalley spun off his work into a company, Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc. and associated nanotechnologies. He was an outspoken critic of the idea of molecular nanomachines, as advocated by K. Eric Drexler. Contrary to popular belief, he was not a critic of molecular nanotechnology on any moral or ethical grounds, but rather, Dr. Smalley believed chemical nanotechnology processes are more realistic and thus much more deserving of funding.
Smalley died on October 28, 2005, at the age of 62, after a six-year struggle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
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Education
- Hope College, Holland, Michigan, 1961-1963
- B.S., Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1965
- M.A., Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1971
- Ph.D., Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 1973
Honors
Fellowships
- Harold W. Dodds Fellow, Princeton University, 1973
- Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, 1978 - 1980, Fellow of the American Physical Society, 1987
Awards and prizes
- Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics, American Physical Society, 1991
- Popular Science Magazine Grand Award in Science & Technology, 1991
- APS International Prize for New Materials, 1992 (Joint with R. F. Curl & H. W. Kroto)
- Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial Award, U.S. Department of Energy, 1992
- Welch Award in Chemistry, Robert A. Welch Foundation, 1992
- Auburn-G.M. Kosolapoff Award, Auburn Section, American Chemical Society, 1992
- Southwest Regional Award, American Chemical Society, 1992
- William H. Nichols Medal, New York Section, American Chemical Society, 1993
- The John Scott Award, City of Philadelphia, 1993
- Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize, European Physical Society, 1994
- Harrison Howe Award, Rochester Section, American Chemical Society, 1994
- Madison Marshall Award, North Alabama Section, American Chemical Society, 1995
- Franklin Medal, The Franklin Institute, 1996
- Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 1996
- Rice University Homecoming Queen, Rice University Undergraduates, 1996 (according to [1], confirmed by Smalley's official CV at [2])
- Distinguished Civililan Public Service Award, Department of the Navy, 1997
- American Carbon Society Medal, 1997
- Top 75 Distinguished Contributors, Chemical & Engineering News, 1998
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Small Times Magazine, 2003
- Glenn T. Seaborg Medal, University of California at Los Angeles, 2002
- Distinguished Alumni Award, Hope College, 2005
- 50th Anniversary Visionary Award, SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering, 2005
External links
- Official Press Release: 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Brief autobiography – From the Nobel Foundation website
- Nanotech pioneer, Nobel Laureate Richard Smalley dead at 62 – Rice University press release
- Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc.