The dome's structure inspired an explanation of the architecture of human red blood cells, the discovery of fullerene molecules (which take the form of buckyballs and carbon nanotubes), and ways to process data for robotic vision. (discovermagazine.com)
Even though c60 is known to contain «empty states» (of a very special nature known as buckyball superatom states, BSS) capable of accepting electrons, these states are found at very high energies, a feature that makes them difficult to exploit in electronic devices. (sciencedaily.com)
He discovered carbon 60, which he named buckminsterfullerene — buckyballs for short — because the molecule carries the structure of geodesic domes created by Buckminster Fuller. (discovermagazine.com)