Robert Curl

Robert F. Curl Jr. (1933–2022) was an American chemist who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerenes.

Richard Smalley: An American chemist who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering fullerenes. Smalley’s laboratory hosted the experiments that led Curl and colleagues to identify fullerenes.
Fullerene: A carbon molecule whose atoms form a closed cage or related hollow structure. Fullerenes were the previously unknown carbon structures Curl and colleagues identified.
Rice University: A private research university in Houston, Texas, founded in 1912. Curl spent most of his academic career there and collaborated with Smalley’s laboratory.
Nanotechnology: The design and use of structures and devices whose dimensions are measured on the nanoscale. Fullerenes became prominent nanoscale objects with distinctive structures and properties.
Harold Kroto: A British chemist who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering fullerenes. Kroto brought the molecular idea that shaped the collaboration with Curl and Smalley.
Buckminsterfullerene: A spherical carbon molecule, C₆₀, composed of 60 atoms arranged in pentagons and hexagons. This stable, soccer-ball-shaped molecule was the discovery’s signature product.
Physical chemistry: The branch of chemistry that explains chemical systems using physical principles and measurements. Curl’s research combined molecular structure, spectroscopy, and experimental physical chemistry.
Nanocarbon: Carbon materials whose characteristic structures have nanoscale dimensions. The fullerene discovery helped establish a family of nanoscale carbon materials.
James R. Heath: An American chemist who helped discover buckminsterfullerene as a graduate student. Heath was a graduate researcher in Smalley’s group during the fullerene experiments.
Laser ablation: A method that uses intense laser pulses to vaporize material from a solid target. Laser vaporization of graphite generated the carbon clusters examined by the team.

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Harry KrotoRelated: Curl’s laboratory at Rice University hosted the experiments Kroto joined to identify C₆₀.