in his nobel prize autobiography he says, "in some places, my birthplace is listed as calvert city, kentucky and in others possum trot (both in marshall county). i was actually born between the two, so either one really is correct." he spent his early childhood in marshall county and attended public school at mckinley elementary, franklin junior high and paducah tilghman high school in paducah, kentucky. grubbs studied chemistry at the university of florida where he was awarded a b.s. and an m.s.. he worked with merle battiste in florida university, and columbia university, where he obtained his ph.d. in 1968. he was taught by ronald breslow in columbia.