Robert Le Rossignol (27 April 1884 – 26 June 1976) was a British chemist. He is most known for his work withFritz Haber on the fixation of nitrogen from atmospheric air, theHaber process.[1][2]
He was born inSaint Helier,Jersey,Channel Islands, and attended school there. He matriculated from the University of London in 1901 and graduated fromUniversity College London in 1905 where he remained, becoming a member of theInstitute of Chemistry of Great Britain and a Fellow of theChemical Society of London. In 1908–1909, he worked withFritz Haber in Germany on the difficult problem of demonstrating ammonia synthesis from air, eventually producing a tabletop apparatus that worked at 200 atmospheres pressure. Haber was awarded theNobel Prize for his discovery that virtually "made bread from the air" and recognized the assistance he'd received from Le Rossignol, whose name appears on Haber's patents for the process.[citation needed]
He was interned in Germany in 1914 at the outbreak of the first World War, but was released to work for theAuergesellschaft during the war.[3] He returned to the UK after the war. He joined theGeneral Electric Company (UK) research laboratory, where he remained for the rest of his career, working onthermionic valves.
He lived inPenn, Buckinghamshire and was a noted philanthropist using the royalty income he received from the Haber patent. His two sons were both killed duringWorld War II.
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