Smalley, Richard E(rrett) (1943– )

US chemist who, with colleagues Robert Curl and Harold Kroto, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1996 for their discovery of buckminsterfullerene (carbon 60) in 1985. Smalley also pioneered the technique used to discover buckminsterfullerene, supersonic jet laser-beam spectroscopy.

Smalley, Kroto, and Curl discovered buckminsterfullerene (carbon 60) in 1985. If crystallized at very high temperatures, buckminsterfullerene can be made into a material that is at least as hard as diamonds. Smalley also pioneered the use of supersonic jet laser beam spectroscopy, which was used in the discovery of buckminsterfullerene.