Nobel laureate to speak at UF

April 10, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Nobel laureate Sir Harold Kroto, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Florida State University and a fellow of the Royal Society, will address faculty, staff, students and guests during the keynote presentation of the College of Dentistry’s fifth annual Research Day, to be held April 13.

Kroto’s presentation, “Science, Society and Sustainability,” will begin at noon in Room 101 of the UF Cancer & Genetics Research Complex and is available for viewing online as a live Webcast on the college’s Web site, www.dental.ufl.edu.

Kroto received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1996 for the discovery of C60 buckminsterfullerene, a new form of carbon that provided the foundation for modern nanoscience. He is a thought-provoking speaker with insights on sustainability and the role of science, engineering and technology in facilitating a sustainable society.

“Society has the power to use technology so that it can benefit us or be detrimental. It is now clear that our technologies have also catalyzed a mindless mass-production-driven plundering of the planet’s resources,” Kroto wrote in his lecture summary. “I see a key role for nanoscience and nanotechnology, which is just a new name for a vast swath of incredibly varied chemistry in the atom/molecule scale region where this discipline overlaps physics, biology and engineering.”

Kroto’s is the keynote presentation of dentistry’s Research Day activities, which include an opening presentation by Christopher Batich, a UF professor of materials science and engineering, oral presentations by student researchers, poster sessions and a closing award ceremony.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit the Web at www.dental.ufl.edu.