Template:Did you know nominations/Robert Curl


 * The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as |this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Espresso Addict (talk) 14:04, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

Robert Curl

 * ...that a young Robert Curl (pictured) ruined his mother's stove by spilling nitric acid on it from his first chemistry set, but went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of C60 fullerene?
 * Reviewed: Alan Sisitsky

5x expanded by Antony-22 (talk). Self nominated at 03:34, 13 July 2014 (UTC).


 * Symbol confirmed.svg Sufficiently expanded and meets core policies. Spotchecks on the refs were mostly OK. Hook is cited and just inside the 200-character mark. --Jakob (talk)  17:55, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

I think as a child and some other bits can be omitted as things the reader will infer. Further, I wonder if Buckminsterfullerene was omitted for length reasons -- it fits now and will attract interest, I think: EEng (talk) 23:22, 13 July 2014 (UTC)
 * ALT1 ...that Robert Curl (pictured), who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of C60 fullerene, ruined his mother's stove with nitric acid from his first chemistry set?
 * ALT2 ...that Robert Curl (pictured), who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, ruined his mother's stove with nitric acid from his first chemistry set?


 * I prefer the original, as I think the progression from being a young chemistry klutz to winning the Nobel Prize is what gives the hook its punch. Antony–22 (talk⁄contribs) 03:16, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
 * It's entirely up to you, but let me say this. There's an incongruity (which is what we're after) whether you work from Nobel to klutz or klutz to Nobel. But a kid ruining his mom's stove is more unexpected than a Nobel prize winner (DYK being full of Nobel prize winners, war heroes, and so on) so the stove makes the better punchline. IMO of course.
 * The presence of the image makes this even more true, because the hook as you have it reads CHILD - GROWNUP (pictured) - MOM'S STOVE - NOBEL i.e. it jumps back and forth in time instead of working up to the punchline. See my point? EEng (talk) 06:01, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
 * The progression as I see it is that they see the picture of the old man first, the fact about ruining the stove creates tension, and then learning about the Nobel Prize resolves that tension. If they already know about the Nobel Prize, the ending about the chemistry set seems anticlimactic to me.  As they say, De gustibus non est disputandum, so I'm happy to let the promoting admin decide.  (Also, you're correct that buckminsterfullerene was shortened to make it fit... the discoverers definitely weren't thinking about DYK length limits when they decided on that name!)  Antony–22 (talk⁄contribs) 23:03, 14 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Sorry, my Greek's not so good, but I get your point. Here's a version you might want to cannibalize to make further modifications, but it's up to you:
 * that a young Robert Curl ruined his mom's stove with nitric acid from his first chemistry set, then went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of buckminsterfullerene?
 * EEng (talk) 01:20, 15 July 2014 (UTC)
 * Symbol confirmed.svg This article is a five-fold expansion and is new enough and long enough. Any of the suggested hooks could be used, the are all supported by inline citations, the image is properly licensed and QPQ has been done. I detected no policy issues. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 09:17, 27 July 2014 (UTC)