He was born in Stuttgart, Germany, son of Helmut Grübele and E. A. Victoria Grübele with two younger siblings Andrea and Philip. He attended the Lycée Français in Vienna, Austria, the Colegio ECOS in Marbella, Spain, and Drew School in San Francisco, US. He completed his B.S in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1984, with the University Certificate of Distinction and Department Citation for Highest Honors. He was advised by Ken Sauer (biophysics), Wilhelm Maier (organic synthesis), and Richard J. Saykally (laser spectroscopy). He did his graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in the laboratory of Richard J. Saykally, where he was a University Fellow (1984–1986), IBM Predoctoral Fellow, (1986–1987), and a Dow Chemical Graduate Fellow (1987–1988). Subsequently he held a postdoctoral position with Ahmed Zewail at California Institute of Technology,  after which he joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1992.