Nobel laureate opens nano centre

A new interdisciplinary research centre set up to break down academic boundaries in nanotechnology has been opened by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Harry Kroto.

C-60

The £3.2m Nottingham Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre (NNNC) at The University of Nottingham has been opened to co-ordinate and promote the university’s expertise in the field.

Professor Clive Roberts, who will head the new centre, said: “The NNNC is a key element in the University’s strategy to build upon and extend the excellent applied and fundamental nanoscience at Nottingham and to maximise its impact in this important field of research across the sciences and engineering.”

The centre will act as a hub for nanotechnology activities across the university and is a joint initiative between the schools of Pharmacy, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering. In conjunction with the new centre, these schools have founded a new taught Masters in Nanoscience.

It is estimated that the global market for nanotechnology could be worth more than £500 billion by 2013.

Professor Kroto, a Francis Eppes Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Florida State University, was one of the winners of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It was shared with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley for the discovery of C-60 or Buckminsterfullerene - a new form of carbon - which heralded a new era of novel 21st century material.