Editing Robert Curl (section)

== Early life and education ==
Born in [[Alice, Texas]], United States, Curl was the son of a [[Methodist]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Carey">{{cite book|last1=Carey|first1=Charles W. Jr.|title=American scientists|date=2006|publisher=Facts on File|location=New York, NY|isbn=9780816054992|pages=79–80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00r9waSNv1cC&pg=PA79|access-date=19 July 2016}}</ref> Due to his father's missionary work, his family moved several times within southern and southwestern Texas, and the elder Curl was involved in starting the San Antonio Medical Center's Methodist Hospital.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title = Notable Scientists from 1900 to the Present|last = Proffitt|first = Pamela|publisher = The Gale Group|date = 2001|isbn = 978-0787617523|location = Farmington Hills, MI|pages = [https://archive.org/details/notablescientist0005unse/page/503 503–4]|editor-last = Narins|editor-first = Brigham|chapter = Robert Floyd Curl Jr.|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/notablescientist0005unse/page/503}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url = https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1996/curl-bio.html|title = Robert F. Curl Jr. – Biographical|date = 1996|access-date = 12 July 2014|website = Nobelprize.org|publisher = Nobel Media AB }}</ref>  Curl attributes his interest in chemistry to a [[chemistry set]] he received as a nine-year-old, recalling that he ruined the finish on his mother's porcelain stove when [[nitric acid]] boiled over onto it.<ref name=":2" />  He is a graduate of [[Thomas Jefferson High School (San Antonio, TX)|Thomas Jefferson High School]] in [[San Antonio, Texas]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url = http://www.tjhsalumni.org/mustangspotlight/1365546|title = TJHS Alumni: Dr. Robert Floyd Curl Jr. '50|date = 5 August 2013|access-date = 12 July 2014|publisher = Thomas Jefferson High School Alumni Association }}</ref>  His high school offered only one year of chemistry instruction, but in his senior year his chemistry teacher gave him special projects to work on.<ref name=":4" />

Curl received a [[Bachelor of Science|Bachelor of Arts]] in chemistry from [[Rice University|Rice Institute]] (now Rice University) in 1954.<ref name=":0" />  He was attracted to the reputation of both the school's academics and football team, and the fact that at the time it charged no tuition.<ref name=":4" />  He earned his [[doctorate]] in chemistry from the [[University of California, Berkeley]], in 1957.<ref name=":0">[http://www.nndb.com/people/798/000100498/ Robert F. Curl, Jr<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> At Berkeley, he worked in the laboratory of [[Kenneth Pitzer]], then dean of the college of chemistry, with whom he would become a lifelong collaborator.  Curl's graduate research involved performing [[infrared spectroscopy]] to determine the [[bond angle]] of [[disiloxane]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />