Robert Floyd Curl was born in Alice, Texas, on August 23, 1933. He credits receiving a chemistry set for Christmas when he was nine years old with sparking his interest in chemistry. According to his biography on Rice University's web site, Curl decided to get his B.A. from Rice University because of their famous football team. He graduated in 1954.

Scientific interest, rather than football, led him to work with Kenneth Pitzer at the University of California at Berkeley, whom he had read about in an undergraduate course. Pitzer became Curl's research advisor and remembered him as a quiet student with exceptional skills. Curl and Pitzer shared the Clayton Prize of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and this began a fruitful collaboration that would continue throughout Curl's career. Curl excelled in graduate school, publishing five research papers and obtaining a National Science Foundation fellowship.

After completing his Ph.D. in...