Nobel laureate Sir Harold Kroto, one of the discoverers of C60 — a unique spherical carbon molecule also known as the “buckyball” – helped lead to the birth of carbon-based nanoscience, nanotechnology, and to leaps in materials engineering that have shaped today’s world.

Sir Harold’s talk, “Carbon in Nano and Outer Space,” recounted how his investigations into the atmosphere of a giant red star launched a revolutionary breakthrough at the nanometer scale.