Carbon

The first geodesic dome to be built was designed by architect Richard Buckminster-Fuller back in the '50s. And then, half a century later, people managed to create a third stable form of carbon (the other two, naturally occurring ones being graphite and diamond).

These carbon chunks have bonds between atoms that exactly resemble Mr Buckminster-Fuller's domes. So it was natural that the new carbon form should be called buckinster-fullerine.

Like little footballs, they are. Dinky.