Robert Lyell Mitchell

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRSC (3 June 1910 – 7 February 1982) was a Scottish chemist and mountaineer. He was an expert on trace elements in soil and their effect on grazing animals, and served as the Director of the Macaulay Institute for Soil Science. He was simply called Bob Mitchell.

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 3 June 1910 the son of David Hay Lyell Mitchell, an engineer based at Bangour Hospital. He was educated at

Bathgate Academy Bathgate Academy is a Mixed-sex education, mixed secondary school in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, also serving the nearby town of Blackburn, West Lothian, Blackburn. History Established by the will of John Newland (a Jamaican-plantation sla ...

then studied science at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

graduating with a BSc in 1931. He undertook postgraduate studies in chemistry first at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

gaining a PhD in 1934, and then the Technische Hochschule in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in Switzerland, where he developed a passion for alpine climbing. In 1937 he became Head of Spectrochemistry at the Macaulay Institute and in 1968 was promoted to be its director. In 1955 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Donald McArthur, Sir David Cuthbertson, Andrew Phillipson, Thomas Phemister, James Robert Matthews and Murray Macgregor. He retired in 1975 and died in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

on 7 February 1982. He was unmarried and had no children.

Publications

*''The Spectrographic Analysis of Soils, Plants and Related Materials'' (1956)

References

1910 births 1982 deaths Scientists from Edinburgh People educated at Bathgate Academy 20th-century Scottish chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-scientist-stub