William Chandler Roberts-Austen

Who was William Chandler Roberts-Austen?

Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen, was an English metallurgist noted for his research on the physical properties of metals and their alloys. Austenite is named in his honour.

He was born William Chandler Roberts in Kennington, Surrey, the son of George and Maria née Chandler Roberts. He later assumed the name of Roberts-Austen at the request of his uncle, Major Austen, as a condition of inheritance. He was educated privately and at the Royal School of Mines.

He was appointed Assistant to the Master of the Mint and then Chemist of the Royal Mint, Professor of Metallurgy at the School of Mines and Chemist and Assayer to the Royal Mint. He developed procedures for the analysis of alloy constituents and an automatic recording pyrometer used to record temperature changes in furnaces and molten materials. He became a world authority on the technical aspects of minting coins. His work had many practical and industrial applications.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1875 and was their Bakerian Lecturer in 1896. He was made CB in 1896 and knighted {KCB} in 1899. He was also a Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur.