Editing Harry Kroto (section)

==Personal life==
In 1963, Kroto married Margaret Henrietta Hunter, also a student of the University of Sheffield at the time. The couple had two sons. Throughout his life, Kroto was a lover of film, theatre, art, and music and published his own artwork.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kroto.info/Graphics/index.html |title=Welcome to Harry Kroto's Personal Website |access-date=28 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131008140027/http://kroto.info/Graphics/index.html |archive-date=8 October 2013 }}</ref>

===Personal beliefs===
Kroto was a "devout atheist"<ref name="nobel"/> who thought that beliefs in immortality derive from lack of the courage to accept human mortality.<ref name="Nobel Autobiography" /> He was a patron of the [[British Humanist Association]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://humanism.org.uk/about/our-people/patrons/professor-sir-harold-kroto-frs/|title=Professor Sir Harold Kroto FRS|access-date=2 May 2016|publisher=[[British Humanist Association]]|date=2012-05-24}}</ref> He was a supporter of [[Amnesty International]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3096030.Harry_Kroto|title=Harry W. Kroto quotes|website=Goodreads|access-date=31 August 2014}}</ref> He referred to his view that [[Dogma|religious dogma]] causes people to accept unethical or inhumane actions: "The only mistake [[Bernard Madoff|Bernie Madoff]] made was to promise returns in ''this'' life."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/jul/01/religion-euthanasia|title=The curse of religion|author=AC Grayling|newspaper=The Guardian|date=July 2009}}</ref> He held that scientists had a responsibility to work for the benefit of the entire species.<ref>{{cite web|title=Think About It: Nobel Prize Winner Sir Harold Kroto Throws Down the Gauntlet|url=http://www.eln.slas.org/story/1/74-think-about-it-nobel-prize-winner-sir-harold-kroto-throws-down-the-gauntlet-|access-date=6 September 2014|archive-date=13 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413101352/http://www.eln.slas.org/story/1/74-think-about-it-nobel-prize-winner-sir-harold-kroto-throws-down-the-gauntlet-|url-status=dead}}</ref> On 15 September 2010, Kroto, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in ''[[The Guardian]]'', stating their opposition to [[Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom|Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/harsh-judgments-on-pope-religion|title=Letters: Harsh judgments on the pope and religion|work=The Guardian|access-date=16 September 2010 | location=London | date=15 September 2010}}</ref>

Kroto was an early Signatory of [[Asteroid Day]].<ref name="Observer">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/13/asteroid-day-anniversary-tunguska-siberia|title=Asteroid Day tries to save life as we know it|work=The Observer|date=13 June 2015|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref><ref name="Asteroid Day">{{cite web|url=http://asteroidday.org/page/harold-kroto/|title=Sir Harry Kroto Official page on Asteroid Day|publisher=Asteroid Day|access-date=2 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604140426/http://asteroidday.org/page/harold-kroto/|archive-date=4 June 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2008, Kroto was critical of [[Michael Reiss]] for directing the teaching of [[creationism]] alongside evolution.<ref>{{cite news |first=Harry |last=Kroto |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/28/religion |title=Blinded by a divine light |work=The Guardian |date=28 September 2008 |access-date=12 May 2016 }}</ref>

Kroto praised the increase of organized online information as an "Educational Revolution" and named it as the "GooYouWiki" world referring to Google, YouTube and Wikipedia.<ref>{{cite web |first=Barry |last=Ray |url=http://news.fsu.edu/More-FSU-News/24-7-News-Archive/2012/October/Kroto-to-lead-discussion-The-GooYouWiki-World-and-the-Educational-Revolution |title=FSU professor, Nobel laureate Kroto to lead discussion, 'The GooYouWiki World and the Educational Revolution' |publisher=FSU |date=16 October 2012 |access-date=12 May 2016 }}</ref>

===Graphic design===
The discovery of buckminsterfullerene caused Kroto to postpone his dream of setting up an art and graphic design studio – he had been doing graphics semi-professionally for years. However, Kroto's graphic design work resulted in numerous posters, letterheads, logos, book/journal covers, medal design, etc. He produced artwork after receiving graphic awards in the Sunday Times Book Jacket Design<ref name="krotolab">{{cite web|title=Welcome to the Kroto Lab|url=http://www.sussex.ac.uk/lifesci/krotolab/|publisher=University of Sussex|access-date=2 May 2016}}</ref> competition (1964) and the Moet Hennesy/Louis Vuitton Science pour l'Art Prize (1994).<ref name="krotolab" /> Other notable graphical works include the design of the Nobel UK Stamp for Chemistry<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stamp-photos.com/picture/number144.asp|title=大阳城2021集团娱乐网址-官方版首页下载|website=www.stamp-photos.com}}</ref> (2001) and features at the Royal Academy (London) Summer Exhibition (2004).

===Death and reactions===

Kroto died on 30 April 2016 in [[Lewes]], [[East Sussex]], from complications of [[amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]] at the age of 76.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/science/harold-kroto-nobel-prize-winning-chemist-is-dead-at-76.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/science/harold-kroto-nobel-prize-winning-chemist-is-dead-at-76.html |archive-date=2022-01-03 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Harold Kroto, Nobel Prize Winning Chemist, Is Dead at 76|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=7 May 2016|date=4 May 2016|author=Nicholas St. Fluer}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="guardianObit">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/may/02/sir-harry-kroto-nobel-prize-winning-chemist-dies-carbon|title=Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel prize-winning chemist, dies at 76|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=2 May 2016|author=Davis, Nicola|access-date=3 May 2016}}</ref>

[[Richard Dawkins]] wrote a memorial for Kroto in which he mentioned Kroto's "passionate hatred of religion."<ref>{{cite web |first=Richard |last=Dawkins |url=https://richarddawkins.net/2016/05/harry-kroto/ |title=Harry Kroto |publisher=Richard Dawkins Foundation |date=2 May 2016 |access-date=10 May 2016 }}</ref> ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' described him as "(spending much of his later life) jetting around the world to extol scientific education in a world he saw as blinded by religion."<ref>{{cite news |first=James R. |last=Hagerty |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/harry-kroto-won-a-nobel-prize-in-chemistry-1939-2016-1462549608 |title=Harry Kroto Helped Spur Wave of Research in Nanotechnology: 1939–2016 |work=The Wall Street Journal|date=6 May 2016 |access-date=12 May 2016 }}</ref> Slate's [[Zack Kopplin]] related a story about how Kroto gave him advice and support to fight Louisiana's creationism law, a law that allows public school science teachers to attack evolution and how Kroto defended the scientific findings of global warming.<ref>{{cite news |first=Zack |last=Kopplin |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2016/05/nobel_laureate_harry_kroto_was_more_than_just_a_scientist_he_was_a_mentor.html |title=Lessons Learned From Nobel Laureate Harry Kroto |work=Slate |date=5 May 2016 |access-date=11 May 2016 }}</ref> In an obituary published in the journal ''Nature'', [[Robert Curl]] and [[James R. Heath]] described Kroto as having an "[[imp]]ish sense of humour similar to that of the British comedy group [[Monty Python]]".<ref name=HeathCurl2016/>