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Robert F. Curl academic papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 483
Finding aid note: Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Scope and Contents

The collection holds the chemistry research materials during a portion of Curl's tenure at Rice University through 2012. The materials, arranged chronologically, include typescript copies, proofs, notes, charts, correspondence and reprints regarding published and unfinished research. The collection also holds various items relating to Curl's positions on a number of Non-Rice boards and committees.

Dates

  • 1953 - 2012
  • Majority of material found within 1981 - 1995

Access Restrictions

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Robert F. Curl Academic papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library.

Biographical Note

Robert F. Curl's affiliation with Rice University begins with his bachelor's degree at Rice in 1954. He received his Ph.D. in 1957 at the University of California, Berkeley. After a year at Harvard University as a research fellow in microwave spectroscopy, Curl joined the Rice faculty as an assistant professor in chemistry. In 1967 he became a full professor, served as chair of the chemistry department from 1992-1996, and then as the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Natural Sciences. In 2002, Curl was named the first Pitzer Professor of Chemistry.

Curl has received many honors and awards including the Clayton Prize of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and the Alexander von Humboldt Senior US Scientist Award from the University of Bonn, Germany. Along with Richard Smalley (Rice University's Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry) and Sir Harold Kroto (University of Sussex, Brighton, England), Curl received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery in 1985 of buckminsterfullernes, the third molecular form of carbon. In 1992 the trio received the American Physical Society International Prize for New Materials.

Curl is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Lamba Upsilon and Sigma Xi, and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America. He has been Visiting Research Officer at the National Research Council of Canada, visiting scientist at the Institute of Molecular Science, Okazaki, Japan, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology in Boulder, the University of Bonn, and the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Extent

23 Linear Feet (31 boxes, one oversize item in annex)

Language of Materials

English

Overview

The collection holds the chemistry research materials during a portion of Dr. Robert Curl's tenure at Rice University through 2012. The materials, arranged chronologically, include typescript copies, proofs, notes, charts, correspondence and reprints regarding published and unfinished research. Also contains information relating to Curl's positions on non-Rice boards and committees.

Acquisition Information

Received by the Woodson Research Center on Oct. 16, 1999, and officially gifted to Rice University by Robert F. Curl on Dec. 9, 1999. Additional materials were donated in 2010 and 2018.

Related Material

See also Robert Curl, Richard Smalley, Buckyball information (vertical) files, and [Rice] Nobel Prize Collection record group.
Title
Guide to the Robert F. Curl Academic papers, 1953- 2012, bulk 1985-1993
Status
Completed
Author
Lee Pecht
Date
2014
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Woodson Research Center, Rice University, Houston, Texas Repository

Contact:
Fondren Library MS-44, Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston Texas 77005 USA