22 June 2010
Nobel Prize winner takes kids on scientific adventure
An internationally renowned Nobel Prize winner and graduate of the University of Sheffield visited his former University yesterday (21 June 2010) to take local school children on a scientific adventure.
Professor Sir Harry Kroto, who is known world-wide as both a scientist and a charismatic motivator of young people, presented his famous `Buckyball´ Workshop to children from St Michael´s School and Birley School in Sheffield.
Sir Harry was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of a new form of carbon, buckyballs. These carbon fullerene molecules are made of pentagons and hexagons and have the same shape as a traditional football. Sir Harry uses the similarity between the buckyball and a football as a way of capturing the attention of young people. The breakthrough has also recently been named by fellow academics as one of the ten most important discoveries made by their peers at UK universities in the past 60 years.
The workshop saw the pupils construct their own model of the `buckyball´ using a specially provided kit. The activity is designed to give pupils an insight into some of its fascinating properties and relate these to properties of other structures made from carbon including diamond (rings) and graphite (pencils).
Each participant was able to keep the `buckyball´ model which they have made and were also given a football, kindly donated by Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, highlighting the same symmetry.
The workshops form part of a series of events with participating schools, which are organised by the Outreach and Access team and take place over three weeks. In preparation for the visit to the University, Outreach staff and Chemistry students visit the schools to run other science-based sessions linked to molecules.
During the University visit, the schoolchildren also took part in two other science workshops organised by the University´s Department of Chemistry, entitled `Polymer Slime´. These workshops use brightly coloured polymer slime to demonstrate the idea of joining small molecules together to form long chain polymers. It is designed to spark the pupil´s interest in science and give them the opportunity to participate in experiments they wouldn´t get a chance to do at school.
Sir Harry said: "There are few things more satisfying than to see small children completely engrossed in hands-on creative exercise and discovering that the models self-assemble, almost by magic, into beautiful structures."
Maiya Stewart, aged 11, who will attend St Michael´s School in September, said: "I´ve really enjoyed the different activities today – they are a lot different to the science lessons we get to do in school. I´m looking forward to studying science when I go to secondary school, and would like to make a big discovery myself one day."
Elinor Noble, from the University´s Kroto Research Institute, said: "We are delighted to be able to offer local primary school children the chance to visit the University and work alongside the world-renowned scientist Professor Sir Harry Kroto. We hope the event will spark youngsters enthusiasm for science and encourage them to follow their dreams and work hard to attain their aspirations in their future studies."
Julie Askew, Outreach Projects Manager at the University of Sheffield, said: "This is a great opportunity for pupils from local primary schools to work with staff and students from the University of Sheffield and alongside prestigious Alumni.
"We are extremely grateful to Sheffield Wednesday FC for their support with the event and hope that the experience will ignite the youngsters´ interest in science and inspire them to raise their aspirations to achieve at the highest level when they transfer to secondary education in September."
Notes for Editors: The University´s Outreach and Access section organises similar schemes and events throughout the region in order to develop pupils´ interests in going to university as part of its commitment to widen participation in higher education.
For further information please contact: Lauren Anderson, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2221046 or email l.h.anderson@sheffield.ac.uk
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