Nope, don't know the guy.

I am always irritated by articles that I can't date, and this is one of them. Maybe there is some way of finding out, but I don't know it. The early expectations for buckyballs, last I heard, have yet to be realised; people are still scratching their heads over how to get to the applications, every now and then there is something in the New Scientist, then silence. So I don't know about this 'strong' material's uses. Strength here refers to its strength as a structure (microstructure) I believe. I suspect there are folk out there who could update us on all this...(?).