Robert Robertson (chemist)

Sir Robert Robertson (born April 17, 1869 in Cupar , † April 28, 1949 in London ) was a Scottish chemist.

Robertson was the son of an oral surgeon, studied chemistry at the University of St. Andrews with the degree in 1890 and was in the municipal analytical laboratory of Glasgow and from 1892 in the Royal Gunpowder Factory in Waltham Abbey , where he became chief chemist in 1900. In 1907 he moved to the research department at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. There he was responsible for research and development on explosives during the First World War. From 1921 until his retirement in 1936 he was a Government Chemist of Great Britain, overseeing the laboratory at The Strand in London. During World War II he worked again on explosives at the University of Swansea.

He dealt with explosives (early work on the composition of gun cotton, improvement of TNT production, introduction of Amatol in 1915), infrared spectra, the internal structure of diamonds and analytical chemistry. In particular, its introduction of Amatol in World War I was of great military importance. As a mixture of ammonium nitrate with around 20 percent TNT, it was cheaper and more efficient than TNT. He was also a pioneer in the use of infrared spectroscopy to elucidate molecular structures (especially arsine and ammonia ).

In 1944 he received the Davy Medal . He was a Fellow of the Royal Society (1917), from 1925 to 1927 in their council and KBE . He was an honorary doctorate from St. Andrews University. In 1922 he became President of the Faraday Society and in 1924 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science .

literature

• Article Robert Robertson in: John Daintith (Ed.), Biographical Encyclopedia of Scientists, CRC Press 2009
• RC Farmer, Obituary Notices Fellows Royal Society, 1949