laboratory. Ramsay smoked cigarettes constantly, knocking the ash off onto
the floor, or onto the bench itself. Tobacco ash contains about 0.5% lithium.
Any fine ash deposited on the surface of the tap grease would inevitably be
transferred to the barrel of the tap and hence to the experiment. Cigarette ash
therefore ‘did for’ Ramsay’s theory of transmutation whilst the cigarettes
themselves finally claimed him on 23 July 1916 when he died of nasal cancer
at Hazlemere, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Robert first became aware of the controversy of international science
through Ramsay, but controversy was to raise its head in a much more
personal sense when he joined Haber. There, he was drawn into a spat
between Haber and Walther Nernst. Their disagreement—a relatively trivial
matter—set in motion a chain of seemingly innocuous events that changed
the world forever. But at the time, who would have thought it? By all
accounts Robert was a modest, uncomplicated man who ‘rose without trace’.
Leafing through the fragmentary public record of his early life one finds it
hard—in all honesty—to find any more than just ‘glimpses’ of great promise.
Researching this book, I found that in the chemistry department of UCL his
echoes are feint … ‘he lies in the dark corners of our past’ one told me.
Today, in the place of his birth, the Société Jersiaise,
15 Victoria College
18 and
the Jersey Heritage Trust
40 are largely ignorant of this man. Little remains of
his school history, there are no records of any sporting achievements in the
school’s main activities (at the time) of swimming or cricket. The debating
society has no reference to Robert and he was not inclined to his school’s
military attachments. Little too remains in Ramsay’s personal papers.
41
But very few of us make an impact in our early years, most being content
to be progressively ‘moulded’ by those around us. In this sense many people
contributed to Robert’s development. His father and eldest brother nurtured
a caring side which was to manifest itself in later life. Pryce Jones fostered his
love of chemistry, and Woodland Toms’ professionalism was a profound
influence on him. Exposure to Europe was provided by Ramsay, and his
innovative laboratory at UCL together with Robert’s life-long interest in
mechanics,
35 may have led to Robert’s inclination to chemical technology.
Donnan too had a role to play, teaching him the new science of physical
chemistry, the painstaking practise of which by Robert was later to complement Haber’s driving ambition. Even so, one cannot escape the conclusion
that Robert’s early life was uneventful, maybe dull and destined for obscurity.
Robert too recognised this, always maintaining that he owed a lot to chance
in that he went to Ramsay, and then to Haber, not Abegg.
23 Indeed, without
Haber, the world would probably have never heard of Robert Le Rossignol,
his would have been a life as ‘quiet as a domino’. So, one has to ask what was
1 Robert Le Rossignol
31
the floor, or onto the bench itself. Tobacco ash contains about 0.5% lithium.
Any fine ash deposited on the surface of the tap grease would inevitably be
transferred to the barrel of the tap and hence to the experiment. Cigarette ash
therefore ‘did for’ Ramsay’s theory of transmutation whilst the cigarettes
themselves finally claimed him on 23 July 1916 when he died of nasal cancer
at Hazlemere, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Robert first became aware of the controversy of international science
through Ramsay, but controversy was to raise its head in a much more
personal sense when he joined Haber. There, he was drawn into a spat
between Haber and Walther Nernst. Their disagreement—a relatively trivial
matter—set in motion a chain of seemingly innocuous events that changed
the world forever. But at the time, who would have thought it? By all
accounts Robert was a modest, uncomplicated man who ‘rose without trace’.
Leafing through the fragmentary public record of his early life one finds it
hard—in all honesty—to find any more than just ‘glimpses’ of great promise.
Researching this book, I found that in the chemistry department of UCL his
echoes are feint … ‘he lies in the dark corners of our past’ one told me.
Today, in the place of his birth, the Société Jersiaise,
15 Victoria College
18 and
the Jersey Heritage Trust
40 are largely ignorant of this man. Little remains of
his school history, there are no records of any sporting achievements in the
school’s main activities (at the time) of swimming or cricket. The debating
society has no reference to Robert and he was not inclined to his school’s
military attachments. Little too remains in Ramsay’s personal papers.
41
But very few of us make an impact in our early years, most being content
to be progressively ‘moulded’ by those around us. In this sense many people
contributed to Robert’s development. His father and eldest brother nurtured
a caring side which was to manifest itself in later life. Pryce Jones fostered his
love of chemistry, and Woodland Toms’ professionalism was a profound
influence on him. Exposure to Europe was provided by Ramsay, and his
innovative laboratory at UCL together with Robert’s life-long interest in
mechanics,
35 may have led to Robert’s inclination to chemical technology.
Donnan too had a role to play, teaching him the new science of physical
chemistry, the painstaking practise of which by Robert was later to complement Haber’s driving ambition. Even so, one cannot escape the conclusion
that Robert’s early life was uneventful, maybe dull and destined for obscurity.
Robert too recognised this, always maintaining that he owed a lot to chance
in that he went to Ramsay, and then to Haber, not Abegg.
23 Indeed, without
Haber, the world would probably have never heard of Robert Le Rossignol,
his would have been a life as ‘quiet as a domino’. So, one has to ask what was
1 Robert Le Rossignol
31