Sir Robert Robinson

Robert Robinson »Biography

Sir Robert Robinson was a British scientist who received the Nobel and Gentleman's Prize for his work on the structure and synthesis of natural elements that include plant pigments and alkaloids. He was an authority on chemistry, synthesis, electronic theory and other scientific subjects. He was able to synthesize many flavones and anthocyanins from his initial study of plant pigments. His research focused on alkaloids and their complex structures that occurred naturally and had biological and chemical effects on all living things. His studies on the chemical reactions that occur in plants to form alkaloids helped to discover the structures of morphine and strychnine in 1925 and 1946 respectively.His research led to the synthesis of penicillin and many other drugs that are used to fight malaria. He was also one of the defenders of the theory of electrons in organic chemistry, which relate to the structure of organic molecules. He helped in the creation of many new dyes that are used in the textile industry. He was an inventor and thus invented an automatic fluff cutting machine in his youth. He received the Order of Merit for his research work in the field of organic chemistry.

Childhood and early life

• Sir Robert Robinson was born on September 13, 1886 Rufford the Farm near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. His father was William Bradbury Robinson and his mother was William Jane Davenport's second wife.

• His father had ten children of first marriage, while Robert was the eldest of the five children of his father's second marriage.

• The first time he attended a daycare center in a city near Chesterfield.

• After kindergarten he attended Chesterfield Grammar School 'as a weekly guest where his interest in mathematics was turned on for the first time.

• At twelve years old, he attended the 'Fulneck' near Leeds in West Yorkshire as a guest.

• In 1902, Robert was sent by his father to the 'University of Manchester' to study chemistry as chemists were in great demand in the textile industry.

• In 1905 he graduated from the top of his class (BSC) with honors in chemistry from 'University of Manchester'.

• After graduating, he joined the organic chemistry of Professor William H. Perkin.

• He was able to earn his DSC degree from the 'Victoria University of Manchester' in 1910.

Race

• In 1912, Sir Robert Robinson traveled to Australia to fill the chair in the 'Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry' at the 'University of Sydney. Here an investigation was made on the synthesis of various derivatives of catechol '', in the C-alkylations of enolates, and in 'eudesmin', a component of the oil derived from the eucalyptus trees of Australia.

• In 1914 he was invited by the British Association for the Advancement of Science to visit them where he met famous British chemists, such as HE Armstrong, Nevil V. Sidgwick and others.

• At the age of twenty-nine, he was appointed to the chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom, and was the youngest candidate. He and his wife returned to England while World War I was going on and resumed their duties at the university in January 1916.

• Soon as the rest of the chemists asked to contribute to the war effort and help in the manufacture of picric acid, TNT, tropinone, morphine and odeine.

• In 1917 he joined the 'Advisory Board' with other famous chemists to develop natural resources, where he developed a new method to produce synthetic 'octanol'.

• Once asked by the authorities of the port of Liverpool to help them put out a fire caused by burning oil. Instead of taking a personal charge he asked the authorities to donate the money to the university library.

• In 1920 he resigned from the chair at the University of Liverpool and became the Research Director of the 'British dyes Corporation'.

• In 1921 it was decided to return to his academic and applied life for the simply unoccupied chair at St. Andrews in Scotland and was selected.

• The chair for the professor of organic chemistry at the University of Manchester became vacant in 1922 and left St. Andrews after a year to fill this chair.

• He collaborated with many young researchers there and worked on pigments that are derived from plants.

• From 1925 he began working with his wife Gertrude in the process of fatty acid synthesis.

• In 1928 he accepted the position of professor at the University of London.

• In 1930, he was appointed to the 'Waynflete-Professor' of chemistry at the University of Oxford and held the position until 1955.

• In 1947 he was sent as the delegate of the United Kingdom to the UNESCO conference and was asked to present the presidential speech before the Royal society of the same year

• In 1955 he was appointed as the 'Professor Emeritus and Honorary Member' of the 'Magdalen College'.

• He was director of the 'Shell Chemical Company' from 1955.

Awards and Achievements

• He was elected as a 'member of the Royal Society' in the year 1920.

• In 1921 he became a member of the council in the 'Chemical Society'.

• He received his knighthood in 1939.

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 1947 for his research on alkaloids.

• Received the Order of Merit in 1949.

Personal life and Legacy

• He married Gertrude Maud Walsh, a fellow student in Manchester, on August 7, 1912.

• His first daughter was born in 1914, but died after one day. His second daughter Marion was born in 1921 and a son later.

• He married Sylvia Stearn Hillstrom in 1957 after Gertrude's death in 1954.

• Sir Robert Robinson died on February 8, 1975 in London, United Kingdom.

Trivia

• Sir Robert Robinson was an enthusiastic chess player and a mountain climber at the heart. He had climbed many mountains in Europe and New Zealand.

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Sir Robert Robinson

AKA Robert Robinson

Born: 13-Sep-1886

Birthplace: Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England

Died: 8-Feb-1975

Location of death: Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England

Cause of death: unspecified

Remains: Buried, Kensal Green Cemetery, London, England

Gender: Male

Race or Ethnicity: White

Sexual orientation: Straight

Occupation: Chemist

Nationality: England

Executive summary: Researcher of alkaloids

Sir Robert Robinson studied the the chemical reactions involved in forming alkaloids, and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1947. He isolated tropinone in 1917, and described the structure of morphine in 1925 and strychnine in 1946. He also studied anthocyanins (plant colorings), developed a method for synthesizing female sex hormones, and made significant contributions to the scientific understanding of the molecular structures of morphine, narcotine, and papaverine. His wife, Gertrude Maud Walsh, was also a chemist and his frequent collaborator.

He was said to have habitually scribbled complex chemical formulas on whatever surface was available, from envelopes to tablecloths to cigarette rolling papers. A chess master, he wrote a book on the game's strategy, served three years as president of the British Chess Federation, and gave frequent exhibitions playing up to a dozen opponents simultaneously.

Father: William Bradbury Robinson (medical manufacturer)

Wife: Gertrude Maud Walsh (chemist, b. 1886, m. 1912, d. 1954, one son, one daughter)

Daughter: Marion Way (physician)

Son: (disabled)

Wife: Stearn Sylvia Hershey Hillstrom (m. 1957, d. 1976)

High School: Fulneck School, Pudsey, West Yorkshire, England (1902)

University: BSc, University of Manchester (1906)

University: PhD, University of Manchester (1910)

Professor: Chemistry, University of Sydney (1912-15)

Professor: Organic Chemistry, University of Liverpool (1915-20)

Professor: Chemistry, University of St. Andrews (1921-22)

Professor: Chemistry, University of Manchester (1922-28)