Richard E. Smalley

Dates

June 6, 1943 – October 28, 2005

Authorized Form of Name

Smalley, Richard E.

Additional Forms of Names

Smalley, R. E. (Richard E.)

Smalley, Richard E., 1943-2005

Smalley, Richard Errett, 1943-2005

Biography

Abstract

Richard Smalley was a Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner and University Professor at Rice University (2002-2005). Other institutional affiliations included the University of Chicago's James Franck Institute. His research interests included the spectroscopic study of the unperturbed gas-phase structure and elementary chemical and photophysical processes of polyatomic molecules, radicals, and ions, including simple clusters of these with each other and with atoms, and cluster structure and surface chemistry.

Important Dates

June 6, 1943Birth, Akron (Ohio).

1965Obtained BS, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Mich.).

1965 – 1969Research Chemist, Shell Chemical Company.

1971Obtained MA, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).

1973Obtained PhD in Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton (N.J.).

1973 – 1975Research Associate in Chemistry, James Franck Institute, University of Chicago.

1976 – 2005Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1976-1980); Associate Professor of Chemistry (1980-1981); Professor of Chemistry, Rice Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (1981-1982); Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry, Rice Center for Nanoscience and Technology (1982-2002); Chair, Rice Quantum Institute (1986-1996); University Professor of Physics (1990-2005); Director, Rice Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (1996-2001); University Professor of Chemistry (2002-2005); and Director, Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory (2003-2005), Rice University, Houston (Tex.).

1983 – 1984Member, Visiting Committee, Brookhaven National Laboratory.

1988 – 1991Member, Committee on Atomic Molecular and Optical Science, National Research Council.

1990Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1991Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1991Awarded Irving Langmuir Prize in Chemical Physics, American Physical Society.

1992Awarded International Prize for New Materials, American Physical Society.

1996Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert F. Curl, Jr. and Sir Harold Kroto "for their discovery of fullerenes".

2000 – 2005Chair, Board of Directors, Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc.

October 28, 2005Death, Houston (Tex.).

Occupation

Chemist.

Places

Subjects

Chemistry.

Laser spectroscopy.

Molecular chemistry.

Molecular spectroscopy.

Nanoscience.

Relationships

People

Family

Rhoads, Esther Virginia

Mother.

Sampieri, Judith Grace

Wife. Married in 1968.

Smalley, Chad Richard, 1969-

Son.

Smalley, Frank Dudley, Jr.

Father.

Advisors & Collaborators

Curl, Robert Floyd

Won 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Harold Kroto "for their discovery of fullerenes."

Kroto, H. W.

Won 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Robert Curl "for their discovery of fullerenes."

Colleagues

Gomer, R. (Robert)

Both employed at University of Chicago, James Franck Institute.

Horn, Paul (Paul M.)

Both employed at University of Chicago, James Franck Institute.

Lee, Yuan Tseh, 1936-

Both employed at University of Chicago, James Franck Institute.

Institutions

Major Positions

Rice University

Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Associate Professor of Chemistry; University Professor of Chemistry; Professor of Chemistry. Rice Center for Nanoscience and Technology; Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry, Rice Center for Nanoscience and Technology; and Director Rice Center for Nanoscience and Technology; Director, Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory; and Chair, Rice Quantum Institute.

Rice University. Physics and Astronomy Department

University Professor of Physics.

Shell Chemical Company

Research Chemist.

University of Chicago. James Franck Institute

Research Associate in Chemistry.