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Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen
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Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen

British metallurgist
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Quick Facts
Born:
March 3, 1843, Kennington, Surrey, Eng.
Died:
Nov. 22, 1902, London
Subjects Of Study:
metal
alloy
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Sir William Chandler Roberts-Austen (born March 3, 1843, Kennington, Surrey, Eng.—died Nov. 22, 1902, London) was an English metallurgist noted for his research on the physical properties of metals and their alloys. He was knighted in 1899.

As professor of metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines in London from 1882 to 1902, Roberts-Austen conducted extensive studies on the effects of impurities on the mechanical properties of pure metals. He also made improvements in the procedures used to analyze the components of alloys. The results of his work had wide industrial application, as did his automatic recording pyrometer, a device that he invented to make precise measurements of temperature changes in furnaces and molten metals. Much of Roberts-Austen’s work centred on mintage, and he was recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on the technical aspects of the operation.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.