Question: Which Texas university played a key role in the discovery of a carbon molecule shaped like a soccer ball?
Answer: Rice University. Professors Robert Curl and Richard Smalley, in collaboration with Sir Harold W. Kroto of the University of Sussex, discovered carbon-60 in 1985. Their discovery of the soccer ball-shaped molecule, known as a “buckyball” (short for buckminsterfullerene), revolutionized the fields of nanoscience and materials research. They were awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery.
