Robert Floyd Curl, Jr. (born August 23, 1933) the son of a Methodist Minister^[1] is an emeritus professor of chemistry at Rice University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for the discovery of fullerene (with the late Richard Smalley, also of Rice University, and Harold Kroto of the University of Sussex).

Born in Alice, Texas, United States, Curl received a B.A. from Rice University in 1954 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1957. Professor Curl's current research interests involve physical chemistry, developing DNA genotyping and sequencing instrumentation, and creating quantum cascade laser-based mid-infrared trace gas monitoring instrumentation. Dr. Curl often attended the German table at Hanszen College at Rice University.

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