Nobel Prize for HCM Network member
The 1996 Nobel Prize winner in the chemistry field, Sir Harry Kroto of the University of Sussex, conducted part of his research in carbon with the help of colleagues from across Europe, through the medium of a research training network supported by the Human Capital and Mobility programme of the Third RTD Framework Programme. The Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery of the C60 fullerene. Sir Harry started his research in the early 1970s, when there was still very little structured cooperation in European research. Consequently he initially had to look to the USA and Canada for partners. The HCM programme, however, made possible the formation of a trans-European research network on fullerenes. Acknowledging the role of the HCM network, Sir Harry noted that: "The European Commission's Human Capital and Mobility programme enabled our research group at the University of Sussex to form a trans-European network on fullerenes, spearheaded by our colleagues in Berlin. HCM has supported the continuing exploitation of aspects of C60 fullerene. The network has been particularly beneficial in supporting the training of European research students who have gained valuable knowledge of new techniques in the study of fullerene behaviour. At the HCM workshops there has been highly valuable interaction between research students and senior scientists from which the students have gained great benefit. We have also gained from testing new training techniques involving fullerenes". The research training networks section of the HCM programme is now a major component of the Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) programme under the Fourth Framework Programme.