A buckyball, also called a fullerene, is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a hollow sphere. It was first discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley at Rice University. Buckyballs are named after Buckminster Fuller because their structure resembles that of his geodesic domes.
Buckminsterfullerene is the smallest known fullerene molecule and consists of 60 atoms of carbon arranged in a truncated icosahedron. The molecule has 32 faces (12 pentagons and 20 hexagons), and each atom is bonded to three others. Buckyballs can be produced synthetically or found naturally in soot.
The discovery of buckyballs expanded the study of carbon allotropes and sparked research into nanotechnology and fullerenes. Buckyballs have been used as additives in lubricants, as well as for drug delivery and cancer treatment. In 2010, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Kroto, Curl, and Smalley “for their discovery of fullerenes”.