| Authorised form of name | Robins; Benjamin (1707 - 1751) |
| Dates | 1707 - 1751 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Bath, Somerset, England |
| Date of birth | 1707 |
| Place of death | Fort St David, Cuddalore, Madras, India |
| Date of death | 29 July 1751 |
| Occupation | Teacher; Engineer; Author |
| Research field | Mathematics |
| Military engineering |
| Activity | Career:
Came to London at the suggestion of Henry Pemberton (FRS 1720) and taught mathematics to private pupils; soon abandoned his Quaker faith; travelled in Flanders to study the fortifications there; engaged in civil and military engineering; invented the ballistic pendulum, a device for measuring the velocity of a projectile; invited by the Prince of Orange to fortify Bergen-op-Zoom, but it fell to the French before he had started work; Engineer-General to the HEIC (1749-death)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 09/11/1727 |
| Proposer | Sylvanus Bevan |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1745 |
| Relationships | Son of John Robins, a Quaker; unmarried |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
References:
Geoffrey Cantor, 'Quakers in the Royal Society, 1660-1750' in NR 1997 vol 51 pp 175-193.
W Johnson, 'Benjamin Robins During 1739-1742: "Called to a Publick Employment … A Very Honorable Post"' in NR 1994 vol 48 pp 31-42
W Johnson, 'Benjamin Robins, FRS (1707-1751): New Details of His Life' in NR 1992 vol 46 pp 235-252
J A D Ackroyd, 'Sir George Cayley, the father of aeronautics, Part 1. The invention of the aeroplane' NR 2002 vol 56 pp 167-181
J A D Ackroyd, 'Sir George Cayley, the father of aeronautics. Part 2. Cayley's aeroplanes' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 333-348
Gentleman's Magazine' 1752, p92 (obituary)
London Magazine 1752, p92 (a description of his experiments with rockets by John Ellicott FRS is on p22)
A McConnell, 'All guns blazing: Collected works on Benjamin Robins and Charles Hutton, by W Johnson' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 102-103
William Johnson FRS 'Collected works on Benjamin Robins and Charles Hutton' 2001 Phoenix Publishing House pvt Ltd New Delhi) |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/73887860 |
| Royal Society code | NA2673 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| MS/46 | A commonplace book of Benjamin Robins | |
| MM/6/76 | Letter from E Sparke to Benjamin Robins | 10 January 1744 |
| MM/6/80 | Letter from E Sparke to Benjamin Robins | 11 October 1746 |
| MM/6/78 | Letter from E Sparke to Benjamin Robins | 16 January 1745 |
| MM/6/77 | Letter from E Sparke to Benjamin Robins | 14 January 1745 |
| RBO/13/68 | 'An account of a Treatise of the Abbe de Molieres intitled: a Physical and mechanical Explication of the Percussion of elastic Bodies' by Benjamin Robins | 1728 |
| MM/6/79 | Letter from E Sparke, London, to Benjamin Robins | 6 September 1746 |
| L&P/1/179a | Paper 'An account of his book 'New principles of gunnery'' by Benjamin Robins | 1743 |
| MS/130 | Papers on ballistics by Benjamin Robins | 1745-1750 |
| MS/130/1 | Notebook containing 'An account of the experiments relating to the resistance of the air...', by Benjamin Robins | 1747-1750 |
| MS/39 | Papers of Benjamin Robins | 1725-1750 |
| CLP/9ii/22 | Paper, 'A new and exact table collected from severall observations taken from the year 1721 to 1729 in 9 voyages to Hudson Bay North America by Capt C Middleton shewing the variation of the compass according to the lattitudes and longitudes under mentioned accounting the longitude from the meridian of London' by C [Christopher] Middleton | [1731] |
| RBO/16/61 | Meteorological observations from Hudson's Bay by Captain Christopher Middleton in his letter to Benjamin Robins | 1731 |