Harold Walter Kroto was an exceptional human being. Not only was he a groundbreaking scientist whose work earned him a share of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, he was also a pacifist, humanist, and excellent communicator who had lasting influence on younger generations.
Harry was born in Wisbech, England, on 7 October 1939; his parents had emigrated from Germany in 1937. His father started a balloon-making factory, and Harry frequently helped out. He worked with the machinery (physics), mixed latex dyes (chemistry), and helped out wherever he was needed, including replacing workers on the production line. Throughout his career as a research scientist, he used the problem-solving skills he had developed in the factory.
Harry received his BSc in 1961 and PhD in 1964, both in chemistry, from the University of Sheffield. There he also became interested in sports, but art, as he used to say, was his passion. He became attracted to quantum mechanics, and his PhD work on the spectroscopy of free radicals was supervised by Richard Dixon. Harry later took a postdoctoral position at the National Research Council Canada with Donald Ramsay, who introduced him to an atmosphere of freedom in research and offered the best spectroscopy equipment in the world. There Harry was able to combine his knowledge of quantum physics, interstellar spectroscopy, and chemistry. He later transmitted that research freedom to his own students and postdocs. After a year he moved to the US for another postdoctoral position at Bell Labs.
In 1966 Harry was offered a position at the University of Sussex by John Murrell, a former teacher of his at Sheffield. He accepted it, despite a big decrease in salary.
Harry submitted three proposals to the UK’s Science and Engineering Research Council before it awarded him a grant to buy a new spectrometer. His use of it to study chains of HC5N marked the beginning of Sussex’s fullerene research program.
Buckminsterfullerene—also known as C60 and buckyball—was discovered in 1985, after Harry and Robert Curl (Rice University) convinced Richard Smalley (also at Rice) to carry out a laser-vaporization experiment with graphite as a target: The idea was to simulate the conditions of exploding giant stars and confirm the possible formation of long carbon chains. Instead of carbon chains, the team unexpectedly found stable clusters with 60 carbon atoms (C60) that were thought to be cage molecules. Harry proposed the name because he was inspired by American architect Buckminster Fuller, well known for his giant geodesic domes. In fact, earlier in his career Harry considered asking Fuller for a job since he was interested in design and architecture.
From 1985 to 1990, Harry gave numerous lectures related to the discovery of C60, proposed new fullerene geometries, discussed the possibility of concentric and spiral giant fullerenes in certain carbon soot, and predicted that diffuse interstellar bands were due to the presence of C60+. That time was the beginning of carbon nanoscience—nanotubes, graphene, and fullerites were not yet on the scene.
Without a doubt, Harry influenced the field of the physics, chemistry, and materials science of nanostructures. After the 1990 breakthrough in which Wolfgang Krätschmer, Lowell Lamb, Konstantinos Fostiropoulos, and Donald Huffman obtained C60 crystals, an incredible amount of fullerene-related papers appeared in physics, chemistry, and materials-science journals.
On 9 October 1996, Curl, Smalley, and Harry were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of fullerenes. Despite receiving it, Harry continued to be the same approachable and charismatic person. And he always acknowledged in his lectures the key role that students James Heath, Sean O’Brien, and Yuan Liu played in the C60 discovery.
As a Nobel laureate, Harry intensified his efforts to help the public better understand science by strengthening the Vega Science Trust. The mission of the organization, which Harry founded in 1995 with Patrick Reams, was to use scientists to communicate to the general public the importance of scientific discoveries.
As part of his outreach efforts, Harry organized numerous science workshops for children. They loved to hear Harry talk about how the carbon atoms in our bodies might have been in C60 molecules generated in outer space—so that would make us all aliens.
As a colleague, Harry was rigorous in his search to fully understand research results, and he always asked for more explanation supported by experimental evidence; he did not like loose ends. His comments and criticisms on draft manuscripts were precise, but in the end, the papers were bulletproof. He did not like to rush to get an article published. Besides C60, he contributed greatly to phosphaalkene chemistry, spectroscopy of different molecules, and carbon nanotubes.
Harry was adept at collaborating with researchers from different fields, and he transmitted to students and colleagues the importance of multidisciplinary research. It is not a coincidence that his group at Sussex included students from different scientific backgrounds and collaborated with scientists from other countries.
Harry enjoyed graphic design so much that he thought about pursuing it as a career if things didn’t work out in the scientific arena. At his house in Lewes, he had a huge collection of art books. He also had a strong interest in architecture, including geodesic domes at the macroscale. Once when visiting Mexico, he was invited by Mexican architect Juan José Díaz Infante Núñez to his home to give a talk on art and science. He delivered it inside a mirror-filled geodesic dome that was part of the architect’s house. Harry and Margaret, his wife, were amazed by the unique experience of his giving a talk inside a fullerene-like structure.
In July 2015 the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society organized a symposium in London to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of C60. During the workshop, Harry was told by John Maier that Maier’s group in Switzerland had found that the diffuse interstellar spectral bands observed a long time ago but not then identified were unequivocally due to C60+, a result that Harry predicted in 1987.
When talking about Harry, one can’t portray him as just a successful scientist and not mention his gracious demeanor and warm personality. He touched many people of different interests, backgrounds, and nationalities, and they will never forget him.
