Retirement of sir robert robertson, k. B. E. , f. R. S.

ABSTRACT DURING the fifteen years that Sir Robert Robertson has filled the post of Government Chemist, the work of the Government Laboratory in Clement's Inn Passage has increased very

greatly, both in amount and complexity. The number of samples dealt with has grown in the proportion of 5: 3 and now amounts to more than half a million a year. Much of the increase is due

to the additional import duties that have been introduced, but a considerable proportion of it is caused by the constant call for more governmental control in various directions. The

Government Chemist is a member of a number of committees appointed by Crown departments, and on many others he is represented by members of his staff; partly for this reason, the personnel

of qualified chemists has had to be raised gradually from thirty-eight to seventy. In spite of all these official activities, Sir Robert has found time to advance the cause of science in

other ways. He has carried out important researches on the infra-red spectra of ammonia, phosphine and arsine, and his investigations of diamonds led to the discovery that there are two

varieties of this precious stone with distinctive atomic structures. In 1926-29 he was secretary of the Royal Institution, and since then as treasurer he has been responsible for raising

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Robertson, K.B.E., F.R.S.. _Nature_ 137, 16 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137016b0 Download citation * Issue Date: 04 January 1936 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137016b0 SHARE THIS

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