Nobel Prize-winning chemist Richard Errett Smalley died of leukemia Oct. 28, 2005, in Houston. He was 62.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Smalley shared his mother's love of science and his father's mechanical bent. After graduating from the University of Michigan, he worked for some years as an industrial chemist and then earned a Ph.D. at Princeton in chemistry.
At Rice University, where he began his career in 1976, he established himself as a highly creative scientist who opened up new fields of research about every two years. Having conceived a new approach to some phenomenon, he constructed the necessary apparatus, demonstrated the potential of his method, and, typically, moved on.
In 1985 Smalley and two colleagues discovered a geodesic dome-like form of carbon called buckminsterfullerenes, for which they won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1996. With the subsequent isolation of related carbon nanotubes, Smalley focused on placing the new field of nanotechnology on firm ground. Even as he battled cancer, he worked tirelessly to convince Congress and the world that nanotube technology held tremendous promise for advances in medicine and energy.
Smalley is survived by his wife, Deborah; two sons; two stepdaughters; and a granddaughter.