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Richard Errett Smalley A Glimmer on His Life and Works

Richard Errett Smalley A Glimmer on His Life and Works. Nobel Prize in Chemistry Award Recipient for the Year 1996. Presented by: Mr. Zakariya T. Muripaga I - MS Chemistry MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology. Richard Smalley’s Life in a Glance Serendipity and Science…. I. Early Life

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Richard Errett Smalley A Glimmer on His Life and Works

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  1. RichardErrettSmalleyA Glimmer on His Life and Works Nobel Prize in Chemistry Award Recipient for the Year 1996 Presented by: Mr.Zakariya T. Muripaga I - MS Chemistry MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology

  2. Richard Smalley’s Life in a GlanceSerendipity and Science… I. Early Life II. Instant Love Story III. Academic Life: Campus Hopping… IV. Scientific Career Jumpstart: In Rice University V. Winning the Nobel Prize VI. Eulogy: Smalley’s Memoir

  3. …Smalley’s life was full of unexpected twists and turns. He may be of an affluent disposition and had his career and works all planned out, and yet pure luck and serendipity set the course for him to be renowned among the best scientists of the new millennium…

  4. Early Life Richard Errett Smalley is the youngest child of Frank Dudley Smalley, Jr. and Esther Virginia Rhoads. Richard Smalley has two sisters (Linda and Mary Jill) and a brother (Clayton) Born on June 6, 1943 in Akron, Ohio, USA Fortunate to be a member of an affluent American family Was a “late bloomer” Motivated by his high school physics and chemistry teachers he excelled academically and later inspired by his aunt Dr. Sara Jane Rhoads to take up a Chemistry degree In his junior year in high school he and his sister Linda were classmates in chemistry; the two eventually competed for the highest mark for the class.

  5. Early Life His character was molded primarily by the ideals and practices of his parents. From his father he learned construction and the workings of electrical and mechanical equipments. From his mother he learned the wonder of ideas and the beauty of science, nature, music, painting, sculpture, and architecture. The impetus of the successful launching of Sputnik I for him to choose a career in Science. Graduated: Southwest High School, Kansas City, Missouri (1961) entered Hope College, Holland, Michigan (1961-1963), eventually transferred to University of Michigan until his conferment of the degree BS Chemistry. Worked as a chemist for theShellChemical Company briefly after graduation in college

  6. INSTANTLOVE Storythrough 37 years of married life… Richard Smalley’s love life is fast paced. During the time he was working as an industrial chemist in a the polypropylene manufacturing plant of Shell Chemical Company in New Jersey, he met Judith Grace Sampieriwho was a wonderful young secretary at Shell. That year was 1968. In just a couple of months they decided to marry. They were married on May 4, 1968. Richard and Judith were blessed with a beautiful child of whom they named Chad Richard. Richard Smalley was holding his son in his lap as he watched the first ever moon landing on TV dated July 20, 1969. The couple were watching the news together as they caress their son who was just eleven days old at that time.

  7. The Intellectual Forefathers… Yuan Lee John Polanyi Dudley Herschbach

  8. Princeton, Chicago et alCampus hopping… The mystery behind the erratic molecular absorption spectra of NO2 was one key towards the direction of research of Smalley. To simplify the problem Smalley proposed the application of the then studied supersonic expansion-cooling effect to freeze out the molecules for better spectral resolution. The ‘freezing’ of molecules was made possible by a molecular laser beam technique. Consequently, Smalley collaborated with Don Levy and Lennard Wharton to jumpstart the project and extend the study to other molecular systems. These research paved the way for Smalley to initiate the field of supersonic beam laser spectroscopy. He was also able to institutionalize the construction of the so called “molecular laser beams.”

  9. Princeton, Chicago et alCampus hopping… In the fall of 1969 Smalley started his doctoral studies in Princeton University in New Jersey under the supervision of Elliot R. Bernstein. he was keenly interested in the research of detailed optical and microwave spectral probes of pure and mixed molecular single crystals cooled in liquid helium which was the focus of the Bernstein group in Princeton. his dissertation study was on 1,3,5-triazine (a heterocyclic benzene analog) as a poignant testing ground for theories of the JahnTeller effect in metal complexes. In the summer of 1973 Smalley began his postdoctoral studies with Donald H. Levy at the University of Chicago.

  10. In Rice UniversityScientific Tenure and Distinctions… Richard Smalley was welcomed in the Rice University of Houston, Texas as Assistant Professor in 1976. Though his projects were somehow continuously productive, he never really aimed to specialize in laser spectroscopy. As a child in fact he was more keen in pursuing Biological Chemistry but he ended in the field of Chemical Physics . As a result of his doctoral projects he chose to go to Rice University as one professor there was also already working with laser spectroscopy by the name of Robert F. Curl. Smalley originally intended to do much research on spectroscopic elucidation studies with Curl’s collaboration. With the increased sophistication of his invented molecular beam lasers, Smalley set a world record for the lowest yet possible temperature obtained for a polyatomic molecule cooling technique (0.17 K).

  11. Science and SerendipityRoad Way to Fame and the Nobel Prize… Pure chance made the paths of Richard Smalley, Robert Curl and Harold Kroto intertwine: Smalley and Curl were already collaborating in Rice University to study molecules with their laser beam technique in 1984 Coincidentally a British scientist by the name of Harold Kroto travelled to the United States in the interest of applying the established laser beam cooling technique in order to simulate the conditions in his study of carbon chains in space. A moment of “unexpected discovery”: the team elucidated not a chain of simple carbon molecules but a highly symmetric cage of 60 carbons The research progressed and even larger carbon cages (fullerenes) were then discovered The carbon cage molecules were named after the famous architect Buckminster Fuller whose geodesic dome designs resembled that of the characteristic shape of the molecules.

  12. EXPECTthe UNEXPECTEDEureka! … great Discovery Penicillin X RAYS

  13. “Recently Ihave gone back to church regularly with a new focus to understand … it’s true. God did create the universe about 13.7 billion years ago, and of necessity has involved Himself with His creation ever since. The purpose of this universe is something that only God knows for sure, but it is increasingly clear to modern science that the universe was exquisitely fine-tuned to enable human life. We are somehow critically involved in His purpose. Our job is to sense that purpose as best we can, love one another, and help Him get that job done.” Richard Smalley (1943 - 2005) U.S. Scientist

  14. SMALLEY as a MANhis Persona, his human nature… Smalley lived a very happy and contented life He is not superbly excellent in his academics but his innovativeness and creative imagination more than made up for him to bring him his fame in Science He was a man of Science and Faith. He became agnostic in the earlier years of his career but his faith was revived probably when he saw the symmetric beauty of fullerene-60 (C60) and may have wondered on the notion that “The laws of Science tell that the universe is on for greater chaos or disorder but nature always boosts the beauty in things by perfect symmetry”

  15. SMALLEY as a MANhis Persona, his human nature… Smalley was also awarded Irving Langmuir Prize, Popular Science Magazine Grand Award, APS International Prize for New Materials, Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial Award, Welch Award in Chemistry, Robert A. Welch Foundation, Auburn-G.M. Kosolapoff Award , Southwest Regional Award, American Chemical Society, William H. Nichols Medal, American Chemical Society, The John Scott Award, Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize, European Physical Society, Harrison Howe Award, Madison Marshall Award, Franklin Medal, The Franklin Institute, Distinguished Civilian Public Service Award, Department of the Navy, American Carbon Society Medal, Top 75 Distinguished Contributors, Chemical & Engineering News, Lifetime Achievement Award, Small Times Magazine, Glenn T. Seaborg Medal, University of California at Los Angeles, Distinguished Alumni Award, Hope College, 50th AnniversaryVisionary Award, SPIE – International Society for Optical Engineering. Apart from publishing numerous significant researches in his line of study he is now considered among the founders of the fields of Nanotechnology and Nanochemistry.

  16. SERENDePitYLegacy of a ChanceDiscovery… diamond graphite carbon nanotube Fullerenes (buckyballs and nanotubes) are a later addition to the list of the allotropes of carbon

  17. SERENDePitYLegacy of a ChanceDiscovery… Among the most symmetric molecular entities ever discovered. The symmetry elements are: E 12C5 12C52 20C3 15C2i 12S10 12S103 20S6 15σ [Icosahedral Point Group] Structured beauty of the classic fullerene-60 molecule

  18. SERENDePitYLegacy of a ChanceDiscovery… Advent of the Nanosciences and Nanotechnology

  19. SERENDePitYLegacy of a ChanceDiscovery… Influence in People’s Lifestyle [fashion]

  20. The NOBELPrizeFrom sheer Luck to the iconic Nobel… Nobel Prize for Chemistry Award Recipients for the Year 1996 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1996) was awarded to Richard E. Smalley, Harold W. Kroto and Richard F. Curl: "for their discovery and research into fullerenes along with elementary characterization of the corresponding physical and chemical properties of the new class of carbon molecules"

  21. Towards finding the common ground of Science and Religion…

  22. (The above photo was taken in Rice University in 2006; it shows Mrs. Judith “Debbie” Smalley presenting a memoir of her husband’s Nobel Prize)

  23. VielenDankMithören(THANK You for Listening)

  24. References As cited in the websites: en.wikipedia.org www.chemicalheritagefoundation.com www.nobelprize.org Edwards, Steven A. (2006). The Nanotech Pioneers: Where Are They Taking Us?. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. pp. 64–66. Nanotechnology: Drexler and Smalley make the case for and against 'molecular assemblers' 2003-12-01 "Top Ten Problems of Humanity for Next 50 Years", Professor R. E. Smalley, Energy & NanoTechnology Conference, Rice University, May 3, 2003. http://www.christianpost.com/news/creation-scientists-in-three-way-debate-with-intelligent-design-evolution-7807/ As quoted by a news release issued after his death by the publishers of "Who Was Adam" Scholarship Convocation Speaker Challenges Scholars to Serve the Greater Good 2004-10-03 Funeral Service for Professor Richard Smalley Speakers: James Tour, Hugh Ross and Ben Young, 2005-11-02, mp3 audio] Adams, W Wade; Baughman, Ray H (2005), "Retrospective: Richard E. Smalley (1943-2005).", Science 310 (5756): 1916, 2005 Dec 23

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