Public Lecture by Sir Harold Kroto 
Science, Society and Sustainability 
To mark the closing of the Nobel Prize Centennial Exhibition 
Kuala Lumpur 2004 
 
Date : Sunday, 27 June 2004 
Time : 9.30 - 11.30 a.m. 
Venue : Auditorium 1, Level 3, 
National Science Centre, 
Persiaran Bukit Kiara, Bukit Kiara, 
Kuala Lumpur 

Registration for Public Lecture, contact 
Ms Phyllis Lam at National Science Centre 
T : 603-2092 1150 F: 603-2092 1250 
E : phyllis@psn.gov.my 
 
The lecture will explore numerous aspects of science. What science is, how others perceive science 
and scientists and some of the problems that non-scientists have in understanding the Science, Engineering 
and Technology (SET) upon which our modern world is so completely and precariously balanced. SET has truly 
revolutionised our lives. However our technologies have also catalysed a mindless mass production driven 
plundering of the Planet's resources, which may be hurtling us towards disaster. We don't need an asteroid. 
For a 50:50 chance of surviving the next century each segment of society from industrialists, engineers and 
scientists to farmers and fishermen must now take this matter as the most serious issue the world has ever 
confronted. As for the science community they must develop as their priority a cultural spirit of sustainability. 
Sir Harold Kroto was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1996 along with Robert F. Curl and Richard E. Smalley 
for their discovery of new forms of the element carbon - called fullerenes - in which the atoms are arranged 
in closed shells.