Fullerenes in Popular Culture - Literature

Literature

• In Stel Pavlou's novel Decipher (2001), buckyballs, nanotechnology and complexity theory are used in the creation of flocking nano-swarms that form human-sized golems. C60 is said to be the building block of the Lost City of Atlantis. C900 is mentioned (p. 292), a non-metal magnet.

• In Neal Stephenson's 1995 cyberpunk/postcyberpunk novel The Diamond Age (1995), buckyballs are nanotechnological containers for things such as rod logic computers.

• In Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, fullerenes of various sizes, "including some thirties," are created in the fall of the first space elevator (a cable of carbon) onto the surface of Mars.

• Buckyballs are used as a barrier in the novella Iron by Poul Anderson, which forms part of the book Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven, Poul Anderson and Dean Ing.

• In Arthur C. Clarke's novel 3001: The Final Odyssey, BuckminsterFullerene is the substance used to build the massive station-ring around earth and the necessary surface supports to maintain it.

• In Ian McDonald's novel Chaga (U.S. title: Evolution's Shore) and its sequel Kirinya, the Chaga, an alien lifeform that transforms the landscape of Earth as well as retrovirus-infected animals and humans that come in contact with it, is composed of fullerenes; one character nicknames it the "buckyball jungle."

• In Simon Hawke's Reluctant Sorcerer trilogy, fullerene is a highly necessary component of Simon Brewster's travelling machine.

• Buckyballs are integral to James Rollins's novel Sandstorm.

• In Paul Preuss's novel Core (1993), fullerenes are lubricants which can function in various ways at the extreme pressures and temperatures found within the earth's interior.

• Karl Schroeder's novel Sun of Suns and its sequels feature a man-made fullerene Dyson sphere-like habitat, described as a fullerene balloon.

• In Clive Cussler's novel Sacred Stone, buckyballs are mentioned as a possible vehicle from outer space that could contain alien pathogens.