The Rice University Neologisms Database

An elongated tube of carbon atoms in a hexagonal lattice. (‘Buckytubes are the material of the future.’) Buckytubes are hexagonal lattices of carbon atoms which form long tubes with hemispherical ends. They have remarkable properties including tensile strength more than 100 times greater than steel. The word buckytube is formed by analogy from ‘buckyball’ (a similar structure that forms a sphere), which itself was formed by the clipping of ‘Buckminster’ (from Buckminster fullerine, the original name for a buckyball) and its compounding with ‘ball’. Buckytubes were discovered shortly after buckyballs, and it is obvious why analogy was an appropriate method of naming them. This word has existed in the scientific vocabulary for a decade, but it has recently gained popular usage. The word entered the popular language in 1996 with the awarding of a Nobel Prize to Richard Smalley and Robert Curl, and with the release of Arthur C. Clarke’s 3001: The Final Odyssey.