Sir William Chandler Roberts- Amten, K.C.B. 197 



as an experimentalist, he has succeeded in clearing up much that was 

 vague and imperfectly understood in that field of inquiry. 



He is the author of an " Introduction to the Study of Metallurgy," 

 which has been characterised as a masterly guide to a knowledge of 

 the principles on which the art is based. 



This bald outline of Roberts-Austen's scientific work gives, how- 

 ever, a very inadequate idea of his diligence as a man of science or of 

 the influence which he exerted on the progress of science. Such work 

 as he engaged in was, from its very nature, time-consuming, and 

 results were only obtained slowly and laboriously. From his official posi- 

 tion, too, and by reason of his attainments, he was constantly called 

 upon to serve upon committees, councils and commissions, into the 

 work of which he never failed to throw himself with characteristic 

 ardour and self-sacrifice. In 1885 he was a member of the executive 

 council of the Inventions Exhibition. In 1889 he served on the 

 British executive council of the Paris Exhibition, and in 1893 on that 

 of the Chicago Exhibition. In the former year he received the Cross 

 of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. 



He sat with the writer on the Treasury Committee which preceded 

 the establishment of the National Physical Laboratory, and he was 

 also a member of the Board of Trade Committee appointed to inquire 

 into the deterioration of steel rails during use in railway traction. 



Since 1899 he had been a member of the Explosives Committee 

 appointed to investigate explosives for use in the Army and Navy and 

 material for the construction of guns. 



Concurrently with the services he rendered to the State, as a public 

 servant, he did his fair share of labour in the organisation of scientific 

 work as an executive officer of various scientific societies. He joined 

 the Chemical Society in 1866, and served on its council in 1879 81, 

 and became a vice-president in 1895 98. 



In 1875 he was elected into the Royal Society, arid served as a 

 member of Council in 1890 92, and was a member and chairman of 

 some of its committees. He was one of the founders of the Physical 

 Society, of which he was also a vice-president, and was an active mem- 

 ber of the Society of Arts, of which he was a member of council and 

 vice-president at the time of his death. He was also an honorary mem- 

 ber of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers, and of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. 



He was elected president of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1899, 

 and held office until 1901. 



In 1888 he was made a C.B., and received his knighthood in the 

 order in 1899. 



The University of Durham made him a D.C.L. in 1897, and a year 

 or two later he received the honorary degree of D,Sc, from the Victoria 

 University. 



