Harry Kroto, fullerene discoverer (1939–2016)

_{Denyse O'Leary

May 4, 2016

Atheism, Chemistry, Science}

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Sir Harold W. Kroto From Chemistry World:

Nobel prize-winning chemist and past president of the Royal Society of Chemistry Harry Kroto died on Saturday 30 April aged 76.

Kroto was awarded the 1996 chemistry Nobel prize, along with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley, for the discovery of fullerenes, and was knighted the same year. More.

He was also an atheist activist in science, seeming not to recognize any distinction, as the campaign against Royal Society theistic evolutionist Michael Reiss suggested. This item from the New York Times in 2006 gives the sense of it. He shared the Nobel that year with Richard Smalley (1943–2005) who came to the opposite conclusion.

Curiously, no one was supposed to mind using science to spread atheism but using it to spread theism was a big problem. Maybe you had to be there. Requiescat in lucem pacis aeternitatis.

See also: Seven Nobel Laureates in science who either supported Intelligent Design or attacked Darwinian evolution

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Off Topic: Rapid Evolution of Citrate Utilization by Escherichia coli by Direct Selection Requires citT and dctA. - Feb. 2016 The isolation of aerobic citrate-utilizing Escherichia coli (Cit(+)) in long-term evolution experiments (LTEE) has been termed a rare, innovative, presumptive speciation event. We hypothesized that direct selection would rapidly yield the same class of E. coli Cit(+) mutants and follow the same genetic trajectory: potentiation, actualization, and refinement. This hypothesis was tested with wild-type E. coli strain B and with K-12 and three K-12 derivatives: an E. coli ?rpoS::kan mutant (impaired for stationary-phase survival), an E. coli ?citT::kan mutant (deleted for the anaerobic citrate/succinate antiporter), and an E. coli ?dctA::kan mutant (deleted for the aerobic succinate transporter). E. coli underwent adaptation to aerobic citrate metabolism that was readily and repeatedly achieved using minimal medium supplemented with citrate (M9C), M9C with 0.005% glycerol, or M9C with 0.0025% glucose. Forty-six independent E. coli Cit(+) mutants were isolated from all E. coli derivatives except the E. coli ?citT::kan mutant. Potentiation/actualization mutations occurred within as few as 12 generations, and refinement mutations occurred within 100 generations. Citrate utilization was confirmed using Simmons, Christensen, and LeMaster Richards citrate media and quantified by mass spectrometry. E. coli Cit(+) mutants grew in clumps and in long incompletely divided chains, a phenotype that was reversible in rich media. Genomic DNA sequencing of four E. coli Cit(+) mutants revealed the required sequence of mutational events leading to a refined Cit(+) mutant. These events showed amplified citT and dctA loci followed by DNA rearrangements consistent with promoter capture events for citT. These mutations were equivalent to the amplification and promoter capture CitT-activating mutations identified in the LTEE.IMPORTANCE E. coli cannot use citrate aerobically. Long-term evolution experiments (LTEE) performed by Blount et al. (Z. D. Blount, J. E. Barrick, C. J. Davidson, and R. E. Lenski, Nature 489:513-518, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11514 ) found a single aerobic, citrate-utilizing E. coli strain after 33,000 generations (15 years). This was interpreted as a speciation event. Here we show why it probably was not a speciation event. Using similar media, 46 independent citrate-utilizing mutants were isolated in as few as 12 to 100 generations. Genomic DNA sequencing revealed an amplification of the citT and dctA loci and DNA rearrangements to capture a promoter to express CitT, aerobically. These are members of the same class of mutations identified by the LTEE. We conclude that the rarity of the LTEE mutant was an artifact of the experimental conditions and not a unique evolutionary event. No new genetic information (novel gene function) evolved. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26833416bornagain77_{May 5, 2016
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Never heard of him however R.I.P. Probably he tried to say that because he was a Chemist he knew science proved there was no God. Maybe just chemistry eh? He had no right to hijack science of his accomplish credibility to say science disproved God or denied there was proof of God. Nobel prize or what. He didn't accomplish that much. Most Nobel prizes go for nothing and righty they are not remembered.Robert Byers_{May 4, 2016
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Nice work, as usual, bornagain77. Thanks for all the great information and links. Very helpful.Truth Will Set You Free_{May 4, 2016
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Of note: Buckyballs (C60; Carbon 60) are the roundest and most symmetrical large molecule known to man.
Bucky Balls - Andy Gion Excerpt: Buckyballs (C60; Carbon 60) are the roundest and most symmetrical large molecule known to man. Buckministerfullerine continues to astonish with one amazing property after another. C60 is the third major form of pure carbon; graphite and diamond are the other two. Buckyballs were discovered in 1985,,, http://www.3rd1000.com/bucky/bucky.htm
Also of note: The sun is nearly the roundest object ever measured.
Sun's Almost Perfectly Round Shape Baffles Scientists - (Aug. 16, 2012) — Excerpt: The sun is nearly the roundest object ever measured. If scaled to the size of a beach ball, it would be so round that the difference between the widest and narrow diameters would be much less than the width of a human hair.,,, They also found that the solar flattening is remarkably constant over time and too small to agree with that predicted from its surface rotation. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120816150801.htm
The delicate balance at which carbon is synthesized in stars is truly a work of art. Fred Hoyle (1915-2001), a famed astrophysicist, is the scientist who established the nucleo-synthesis of heavier elements within stars as mathematically valid in 1946. Hoyle is said to have converted from staunch atheism into being a Theist/Deist after discovering the precise balance at which carbon is synthesized in stars. Years after Sir Fred discovered the stunning precision with which carbon is synthesized in stars he stated this:
"I do not believe that any physicist who examined the evidence could fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce within stars." Sir Fred Hoyle - "The Universe: Past and Present Reflections." Engineering and Science, November, 1981. pp. 8–12 Michael Denton - We Are Stardust - Uncanny Balance Of The Elements - and Atheist Fred Hoyle's conversion from atheism to being a Deist/Theist (6:38 minute mark)- video https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ADT9L5MBPak#t=398
bornagain77_{May 4, 2016
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