Richard Smalley ric·hards·mal·ley uncommon noun 1. American chemist who with Robert Curl and Harold Kroto discovered fullerenes and opened a new branch of chemistry (born in 1943) SynonymsSmalleyRichard SmalleyRichard E. SmalleyRichard Errett Smalley Related words Broader terms chemist WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved.