In pursuit of nanocarbons
With the advent of the Krätschmer-Huffman historical breakthrough on the macroscopic synthesis of C(60) in the late summer of 1990, I decided to stop all my research so far in the area of spectroscopy of gas-phase molecular microclusters. Since then, my odyssey in and quest for the so-called nanocarbons started. Thanks to the brand-new and enchanting world of fullerenes, metallofullerenes, carbon nanotubes and nano-peapods, I have been able to entertain (and still am entertaining!) "the pleasure of finding things out", as Richard Feynman once put it in an interview by a BBC television program in 1981. I believe that as long as one has big dreams and lays the groundwork for the dreams, one will achieve them. My quest for nanocarbons is still on its way.