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The news of the discovery of hollow, football-shaped molecules of
carbon was
met with scepticism by many scientists. Theoretically no third form of
carbon
could exist. Then in 1990, a method was found of making what was dubbed
“buckminsterfullerene” in tangible amounts. The world of chemistry was
turned on
its ear. Now out in paperback, Perfect Symmetry by Jim Baggott
(Oxford
University Press, £9.99, ISBN 0 19 855789 2) describes a theory of
momentous serendipity and its consequences, not forgetting the sometimes
squabbling scientists concerned.