[extropy-chat] Nanotech expert Richard Smalley dies

[Hal Finney]

I was shocked to run across this a few moments ago:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3423476

> Richard Errett Smalley, a gifted chemist who shared a Nobel Prize for
> the discovery of buckyballs, helped pioneer the field of nanotechnology
> and became Houston's most notable scientist, died this afternoon after
> a six-year struggle with cancer. He was 62.

Smalley was famous in our community for his skepticism about Drexlerian
nanotech.  Despite this view, relatively unpopular around here, I know
that we all will recognize that his untimmely death is very sad and that
the field has lost one of its giants.

Hal