buckminsterfullerene

The coalescence of buckminsterfullerene molecules to create nested carbon nanotubes helped to improve the precision of the experiments.

The chemists named the molecules buckminsterfullerenes after the architect Buckminster Fuller and his geodesic domes.

Figure 1 | Evidence of a mechanism for the formation of buckminsterfullerene in space.

Even large molecules such as buckminsterfullerene — made of 60 carbon atoms — will behave in this way.

The scientists agreed to name the molecule buckminsterfullerene, or fullerene.