In 1966, it was an amusing idea. In September 1985, it was a ball of paper and sticky tape, the result of six days of intense scientific discussion and one moment of inspiration. Five years later it was finally real: a perfectly symmetrical soccer-ball shaped molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms and called buckminsterfullerene.

This new molecule - one of a large family of carbon cage molecules called 'fullerenes' - represents a new form of carbon in addition to diamond and graphite. Its discovery has revolutionized our understanding of this once most familiar of all elements. It has heralded a new chemistry, a new range of high-temperature superconductors, and some marvellous new concepts in the architecture of large carbon structures. Carbon will never be the same again.

In Perfect symmetry, prize-winning science writer Jim Baggott tells the story of the accidental discovery of buckminsterfullerene, from its origins in the cold chemistry of interstellar clouds to the development of the fast-growing field of fullerene science. It is a story full of surprises.