Robert Robinson worked on many types of chemical problems, but he received the 1947 Nobel Prize for his work with the alkaloids, complex nitrogen-containing natural compounds that often exhibit high biological activity. His work in synthesis, identification, and reaction theory make him one of the founders of modern organic chemistry. Robinson summed up his philosophy about basic research when he said in his Nobel address, "In both [chemistry and physics] it is in the course of attack of the most difficult problems, without consideration of eventual applications, that new fundamental knowledge is most certainly garnered.... Such contributions as I have been able to make are to the science itself and do not derive their interest from the economic or biological importance of the substances studied."
Robinson was born to the inventor William Bradbury Robinson and Jane (Davenport) Robinson on September 13, 1886 near Chesterfield, England. His very large family included eight half-siblings from his father's first marriage, as well as four younger children. The family moved to New Brampton when Robinson was three years old. He received an excellent private education from the Fulneck School, run by the Moravian Church, and entered Manchester University in 1902. Robinson's family had manufactured bandages and other medical products for nearly a century and he was expected to enter the family business, so his father insisted that he study chemistry instead of mathematics. While at Manchester, Robinson studied under William H. Perkin, Jr. , and after graduating with high honors in 1905, he worked in Perkin's private laboratory for five years before finishing his Ph.D. in 1910. In 1912, Robinson moved to Australia to take a teaching position at the University of Sydney. He returned to England in 1915 and held university appointments at Liverpool, St. Andrews, and Manchester, before finally landing at Oxford as Waynflete Professor of Chemistry, succeeding his mentor Perkin. Robinson remained at Oxford until his retirement in 1955. He also spent time as a consultant to the dye and petroleum industries.
Robinson's interests spanned all of organic chemistry (molecular structure elucidation, theoretical considerations, and synthesis), and most of them originated in Perkin's laboratory. He first studied such plant pigments as brazilin , a dyestuff obtainable from brazilwood, and the group of red/blue flower pigments called anthocyanins . He also worked on some of the steroid hormones, and synthesized several artificial estrogens. As did many scientists of the time, during World War II Robinson worked on war-related research efforts--from explosives to anti-malarial drugs to penicillin. Later in his life, Robinson became interested in geochemistry, particularly the origin and composition of petroleum. His work convinced him that plants must synthesize chemicals in certain ways, and he proposed a biosynthesis pathway (later confirmed by radioactive tracers) for some of the plant alkaloids. His contributions to chemical theory also include ideas on the electron distribution (and therefore the chemical reactivity) of aromatic compounds like benzene.
Alkaloids, although not the largest natural chemical compounds, are arguably the most complex, since they always contain nitrogen and usually some combination of carbon rings. Alkaloids as a group have profound biochemical effects on living things; cocaine, morphine and opium all belong to this class of natural products, as do many natural poisons. Robinson elucidated the structure of morphine and strychnine, and synthesized the alkaloids papaverine, hydrastine, narcotine, and tropinone.
In addition to receiving the 1947 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work with the alkaloids, Robinson was knighted in 1939; he was also awarded the Order of Merit in 1949, and the Longstaff, Faraday, Davy, Royal, and Copley medals. In addition, he was an active member of numerous professional organizations around the world: at different times during his career, he served as president of the Royal Society, the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Society of the Chemical Industry. With the help of Nobel Laureate Robert B. Woodward, Robinson established the organic chemistry journal Tetrahedron.
Robinson married Gertrude Maude Walsh in 1912; they had a son and a daughter. Robinson's hobbies included music, literature, gardening, and photography, but his most enthusiastic pursuits outside of science were mountain-climbing (he and his wife explored ranges all over the world) and chess. He won several chess championships, served as president of the British Chess Federation, and collaborated on a book entitled The Art and Science of Chess. Three years after his wife's death in 1954, Robinson married Stearn Hillstrom. He retired from Oxford in 1955, and died on February 8, 1975.
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