Harold Kroto

Sir Harold Walter Kroto KBE FRS (born October 7, 1939) is an English chemist.

Early Work

In 1961 he took a first class B. Sc. honours degree in chemistry at the University of Sheffield, followed in 1964 by a Ph. D. at the same institution. His doctoral research involved high-resolution electronic spectra of free radicals produced by flash photolysis (breaking of chemical bonds by light). Among other things such as making the first phosphaalkenes (compounds with carbon phosphorus double bonds), his doctoral studies included some unpublished research on carbon suboxide, O=C=C=C=O, and this led to a general interest in molecules containing chains of carbon atoms with numerous multiple bonds. He started his work with an interest in organic chemistry, but when he learned about spectroscopy it inclined him to quantum chemistry.

Related Topics:
1961 - B. Sc. - Chemistry - University of Sheffield - 1964 - Ph. D. - Electronic spectra - Free radical - Flash photolysis - Chemical bond - Light - Carbon suboxide - Molecule - Organic chemistry - Spectroscopy - Quantum chemistry

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After postdoctoral research at the National Research Council in Canada and Bell Laboratories in the United States of America he began teaching and research at the University of Sussex in England in 1967. He became a full professor in 1985, and a Royal Society Research Professor from 1991–2001.

Related Topics:
Canada - Bell Laboratories - United States of America - University of Sussex - 1967 - 1985 - 1991 - 2001

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