| Reference number | EC/1917/12 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XIII, 126; A06088 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Robertson, Sir Robert: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Description | #Date stamp on reverse |
| Citation | Assoc Mem of the Ordnance Committee. Research Chemist, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. Has been connected with research work in the Government service 1902. Most of his work relates to explosives, described only in confidential reports or (official) secret patents. It is therefore necessarily unknown to scientific men generally, although its great value is known personally to the signatories. His work has been the means of enormous financial saving to the country, and of great scientific value and technical importance in connexion with the present war. The following are some of the chief matters dealt with in his investigations: - Discovery of Mode Decomposition of Nitro-glycerine, of Guncotton and of Cordite (1907); Of Cause of Stabilizing Action of Mineral Jelly and other Stabilizers; of Principles of Stabilizing Guncotton (1902); Researches on Influence of Climate and of additions to Cordite; on Flamelessness in Guns (1914); On Calorimetry of Cordites (1906); On Significance of Abel Heat Test (1910), &c. Author of papers in Proc Roy Soc, 1906; Journ Chem Soc, 1907-1909; Journ Chem Soc Industry, 1902, 1906, 1910; and of many Service printed Reports (confidential). Also invention of apparatus and processes for acetone recovery (with W Rintoul) (1901); for improving detonation of high explosives; for manufacture of trinitrotoluene (with others) (1914); of a new propellant not requiring acetone (1915); for testing explosives for stability, power, violence, &c; for production of smoke screens; and many other matters of similar nature, including some seventeen secret patents adopted by Government and successful in practice. Has a unique knowledge of explosives, their chemistry, manufacture, and properties. |
| Proposers | Moulton; F G Donnan; A Scott; T M Lowry; R Threlfall; P F Frankland; W J Pope; [T Purdie]; J N Collie; Frank W Dyson; James J Dobbie; William Tilden; A W Crossley; H B Baker; J T Hewitt; J F Thorpe; Alex B Kennedy; J A Harker |
| Access status | Open |
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Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | Name | Dates |
| NA7834 | Robertson; Sir; Robert (1869 - 1949) | 1869 - 1949 |