Robert Robertson (chemist)

Not to be confused with Robert Robinson (organic chemist).
Robert Robertson
Born Robert Robertson
17 April 1869
Cupar, Fife, Scotland
Died 28 April 1949 (aged 80)
London, Greater London, England
Nationality Scottish
Occupation chemist
Known for Government Chemist
Title Sir
Awards Davy Medal (1944)

Sir Robert Robertson KBE FRS[1] (17 April 1869 – 28 April 1949) was a Scottish chemist who served as HM Government's Government Chemist between 1921 and 1936.[2] He was the first person to establish that two types of natural diamond existed.[3]

Robert Robertson was born in Cupar, Fife, and educated at Bell Baxter High School. After leaving school he attended St. Andrews University, where he graduated in both Arts and Science. The same institution would later award him an honorary LLD.

After leaving university he was appointed assistant in the laboratory of the city analyst in Glasgow. He later obtained the post of analyst in the Royal Gunpowder Factory at Waltham Abbey. His work as Director of Explosives Research during the Great War was recognised with the award of a KBE. He was also honoured with his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1917.[1] In 1921 he became Chief Government Chemist, a post held until his retirement in 1936.[4]

In 1922 he was elected President of the Faraday Society, in 1924 President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and from 1925 to 1927 he was a council member of the Royal Society of London.[1][5] In 1944, he was awarded the Royal Society's Davy Medal "[i]n recognition of his researches on explosives, analytical methods, the internal structure of diamond, and infra-red absorption spectra".[6]

Sir Robert Robertson's archives are held by Archive Services, University of Dundee.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Farmer, R. C. (1949). "Robert Robertson. 1869-1949". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 6 (18): 539–526. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1949.0012. JSTOR 768939.
  2. ↑ "Retirement of Sir Robert Robertson, K.B.E., F.R.S". Nature. 137 (3453): 16. 1936. doi:10.1038/137016b0.
  3. ↑ "Archive Services Online Catalogue MS 97". University of Dundee. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Archive Service Online Catalogue MS 50 Sir Robert Robertson". University of Dundee. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  5. ↑ "Biographical Database of British chemists, Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  6. ↑ Doren, Charles Lincoln van; Robert McHenry (1974). Webster's American Biographies. G. & C. Merriam Co. p. 11. ISBN 0-87779-053-1.


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