How was fullerene first discovered in 1985?

In September 1985, chemists Sir Harold W. Kroto, Richard E. Smalley, and Robert F. Curl, Jr. discovered fullerenes while conducting experiments at Rice University.12

The team used a laser-supersonic cluster beam apparatus—designed by Smalley—to vaporize graphite in an atmosphere of helium. This process was intended to simulate the chemical conditions found in the atmospheres of giant stars to study the formation of carbon chains.13

During the experiments, the researchers serendipitously detected a previously unknown carbon species containing 60 atoms ($C_{60}$) in high abundance. They concluded that the remarkable stability of this cluster was due to its structure: a highly symmetrical, hollow, closed-cage molecule resembling a soccer ball, composed of 12 pentagonal and 20 hexagonal faces. The team named this molecule buckminsterfullerene in honor of architect R. Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic dome designs shared similar structural principles.132