Special Thanks

Dr. Robert F. Curl

Dr. Robert Curl won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 (along with Sir Harry Kroto and Richard Smalley) for their discovery of Buckminsterfullerne, C₆₀. Dr.  Curl has worked at Rice University since 1958, where he has been a professor since 1967. Dr. Curl kindly responded to our questions about nanotechnology and buckyballs.  Thank you Dr. Curl!

Sir Harold Kroto

Sir Harry Kroto was knighted for his contributions to chemistry in 1996 and later that year, together with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley (of Rice University, Houston, Texas), received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of Buckminsterfullerene a new form of carbon.  C₆₀. In 1985 he became Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sussex and in 1991 Royal Society Research Professor.  Dr. Kroto is a very friendly, even funny, guy who loves to teach children about science. You can watch some of his videos online at The Vega Science Trust. Thank you Sir Harry for your help on this project!

Dr. Don Eigler

Don Eigler is an IBM Fellow who is part of the Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California.  He designed and built one of the world's most extraordinary laboratory instruments, a microscope capable not only of imaging atoms, but of building new structures using individual atoms as the building blocks. Dr. Eigler was very responsive to our e-mail questions.  Thank you Dr. Eigler!

Samuel Crupper

Samuel was our team coach. He has participated in previous LEGO League competitions.  Thank you Samuel for all your help to the team!

James Garrett

James is Alexander's uncle.  He is an engineer who works for Fairchild Semiconductors who has coached high school robotics teams in the past.  During a visit to Chicago he gave the team and overview of his job and shared some advice on how to improve our robots.  He was very helpful!  Thank you Uncle James!

Our Parents!

Without our parents we could not be part of this competition. :)  Thank you to our moms who drove us to our practices each week and supported us throughout the project!  Thank you to Ryan's dad for getting the supplies and helping the team build the table.  Thank you to Alexander's dad for helping the team come up with our name!  Thanks also to Alexander's mom and dad for opening your home each week to host our meetings!  Thank you to Barrett and Zachary's dad for teaching us about websites.  Thank you parents!