Rice chemist, Nobel laureate Robert Curl dies at 88

Nobel Prize-winning chemist Robert Curl, who spent six decades at Rice University, has died at 88. Curl and his research team won the award in 1996 for their discovery of a carbon form known as “buckyballs.” The finding cemented Rice as a leader in materials research and made Curl one of the most beloved, prominent figures on campus, university officials said. “Despite winning one of science’s top honors, Bob was a quiet hero who stayed true to his passions - scientific discovery, teaching and the spirit of collegiality,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said in a news release. “During his 64 years as a faculty member at Rice, Bob mentored countless students and colleagues. His institutional presence on campus made a profound contribution to the university’s culture and character that will live on for years to come.”

The laureate — a Rice alumnus himself — was a University Professor Emeritus and the Kenneth S. Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor Emeritus of Natural Sciences. Curl died Sunday in Houston. “I view Bob as the gentle intellectual giant,” said R. Stanley Williams, a mentee of Curl’s who is now a Texas A&M University professor. “When we chatted about science, his eyes would just literally light up and sparkle. I would come away from every discussion that I had with Bob energized.” Curl was born in 1933 in Alice, two hours south of San Antonio. His father was a Methodist minister, moving them to various towns across south Texas during his childhood, according to the Nobel Foundation. He found his own calling at age 9 when he received a chemistry set for Christmas. “Within a week, I had decided to become a chemist and never wavered from that choice,” he wrote in an autobiography for the foundation. Curl graduated in 1954 with a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from what was then the Rice Institute. He learned there about the ongoing work of chemist Kenneth Pitzer and resolved to study with him at the University of California-Berkley as he earned his Ph.D. Serving as Curl’s thesis adviser, Pitzer helped him obtain a postdoctoral position at Harvard University in 1957 before he returned to Rice the next year as an assistant professor. Curl and Pitzer also reunited at the Houston research institution, where Pitzer served as president from 1961 to 1968.