Robert Floyd Curl Jr. is an American chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for discovering buckminsterfullerene, a nanomaterial. He was born in Alice, Texas, in the early 1930s and spent much of his childhood and education in San Antonio. He was attracted by the subject after getting a chemistry set as a gift from his parents when he was nine years old, and he decided to become a chemist when he grew up, a dream he did not abandon. He eventually earned a BS in Chemistry from Rice Institute (later University) and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined Rice as an Assistant Professor after a brief postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University, and gradually worked his way up to become the Chairman of the Chemistry Department near the conclusion of his career. He is currently a University Professor Emeritus at Rice University, as well as a Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor of Natural Sciences Emeritus and a Professor of Chemistry Emeritus. He has worked on several projects with a number of well-known researchers over the years. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 with Richard Smalley and Harold Kroto for the discovery of the nanomaterial buckminsterfullerene.
Childhood and Adolescence
Robert Floyd Curl was born in Alice, Texas, on August 23, 1933. His father, Robert Floyd Curls, was a Methodist minister, and his mother, Lessie Waldene Merritt Floyd, was a stay-at-home mom. Mary Gessner Curl Kurio is his older sister.
The family traveled about a lot at initially, and Robert spent his first nine years in several little communities in south Texas. Everywhere he went, he was referred to as the ‘preacher’s kid,’ a label he despised.
When Robert turned nine, senior Curl was appointed as the district’s supervisor of church activities. Robert was happy that he was no longer the ‘preacher’s kid’ now that the family had settled down in San Antonio. Another noteworthy event of the year was his mom giving him a chemical set as a gift.
Despite the fact that chemistry was not taught in primary school, he began experimenting with it on his own and decided to become a scientist within a week. He hasn’t wavered from his goal since then. On the contrary, he grew more interested in the issue with each passing day.
Robert said that he was not exceptionally bright in school. Because he continually worked hard, he always obtained good grades. He eventually went to Thomas Jefferson High School. They spent a year teaching chemistry here. His chemistry teacher, on the other hand, made up for it by assigning him an extra project.
Robert Floyd Curl Jr. began his college studies at Rice University (then Rice Institute) after graduating from high school in 1950. One of the key attractions for the family was that the college was one of the few institutions in America that did not charge tuition; a priest did not make a lot of money back then.
However, because there were no tuition costs at the institute, the failure rate was quite high. Curl, on the other hand, was up to the task and performed admirably academically. After earning his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1954, he went on to the University of California in Berkeley to pursue his doctorate studies.
Curl worked in Kenneth Pitzer’s laboratory, where he was encouraged to look into the matrix isolation infrared spectrum of disiloxane. The goal was to determine if the Si-O-Si connection was straight or curved. Curl obtained his PhD in 1957 after discovering that Si-O-Si is somewhat twisted.
Career of Robert Floyd Curl Jr.
Robert Curl began his postdoctoral work at Harvard University in 1957. He studied the bond rotation barriers of molecules using microwave spectroscopy while working for Edgar Bright Wilson.
He received an invitation to join Rice University’s faculty some time ago. As a result, when his postdoctoral stint ended in 1958, he returned to Houston to work as an Assistant Professor at Rice University, where he remained for the rest of his career.
He took over the laboratory as well as George Bird’s graduate students, who had departed Rice University for a job at Polaroid. Curl began working on numerous themes after inheriting such a ready-made setup.
Jim Kinsey was his first student, and he worked with him on the microwave spectrum of ClO2 as well as the treatment of fine and hyperfine structure. Later, he collaborated with other scientists to analyze the spectra of stable free radicals.
He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1963 and full professor in 1967. Richard E. Smalley, who had been performing postdoctoral work at the University of Chicago, joined him in 1976.
Smalley attended Rice University after being inspired by Robert Curl’s research in infrared and microwave spectroscopy. The two scientists immediately began collaborating on several projects. Harold Walter Kroto was studying on gas in carbon-rich massive stars and clouds of gases in interstellar space at the same time, far away in Sussex.
In 1985, Kroto contacted Curl, who informed him of Smalley’s laser beam equipment. They used it to research semiconductors such as silicon and germanium. Kroto now intended to use this device to investigate how carbon chains originate in red giant stars.
Despite Curl and Smalley’s initial reluctance to lend it, they eventually agreed. Kroto then arrived at Rice University, where the three scientists discovered a fullerene molecule with 60 carbon atoms while working together with this device. On November 14, 1985, they named it Buckminsterfullerene and announced their discovery.
Curl became Chairman of Rice’s Department of Chemistry in 1992, and he left the position in 1996. He was then the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Natural Sciences at Rice University from 1996 to 2002.
He became a University Professor at Rice University in 2003 and held the position until 2008, when he retired at the age of 74. He did not, however, completely cut connections with the university.
He remained a University Professor Emeritus and maintained the positions of Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor of Natural Sciences Emeritus and Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Rice University after his retirement.
Curl’s following studies concentrated on physical chemistry. He worked on developing trace gas sensors and small rotating fork arrays that might be utilized for photoacoustic gas detection. DNA genotyping and sequencing instrumentation, environmental monitoring, free radicals, gas phase chemical kinetics, and infrared laser spectroscopy are among his other scientific interests.
Major Projects of Robert Floyd Curl Jr.
Curl is well known for working with Richard Smalley and Harold Kroto to develop Buckminsterfullerene in 1985. The three scientists exposed graphite to laser pulses while seeking for long carbon chains. It resulted in the creation of carbon gas, as expected. They identified an unusual material containing 60 or 70 carbon atoms when the gas was condensed.
They discovered that the carbon molecule with 60 atoms was the most abundant and began researching its makeup. It was discovered to be a hollow cage-like structure with five and six edges, grouped in a sphere. Buckminsterfullerene was named after architect Buckminster Fuller, who experimented with this geometric geometry.
Achievements & Awards
Curl, together with Smalley and Kroto, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for “discovering fullerene.”
Curl has also received numerous other honors and has been elected to numerous prestigious societies. Antigua and Barbuda honored him with a stamp in 2001.
Personal History and Legacy
Robert F. Curl married Jonel Whipple on December 21, 1955. Michael and David Curl are the couple’s two sons.
Estimated Net Worth
The estimated net worth of Robert Floyd Curl Jr. is unknown.
Trivia
Professor Curl has freely recognized that two of his graduate students, James Heath and Sean O’Brien, have equal claim to the discovery of Buckminsterfullerene. They took part in the discussions on an equal footing and carried out the majority of the trials.