Author Description

The discovery of C60 and C70, icosahedral spherical and ellipsoidal carbon species in September 1985, followed by their successful synthesis in 1990, excited the imagination of many scientists and demanded a radical revision of old, seemingly well-founded preconceptions in carbon science, leading to the institution of a new, multidisciplinary science of chemistry, physics and materials science `in the round'. New, unique carbon materials have been discovered, like the nanotubes, buckyonions and endohedral metallofullerenes; and the fullerenes themselves, and their derivatives, have been found to possess a plethora of interesting properties, ranging from the inhibition of HIV-I protease to superconductivity and ferromagnetism. New and exciting material aplenty, all of which is here expertly reviewed by the founders of the science, as well as its most expert practitioners.