Robert Mond

Sir Robert Ludwig Mond (9 September 1867 — 22 October 1938) was a British chemist and archeaeologist.

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Early life and education

Robert Mond was born at Farnworth, Widnes, Lancashire, the elder son of Ludwig Mond, chemist and industrialist. He was educated at Cheltenham College, Peterhouse, Cambridge, Zurich Polytechnic, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. At Glasgow he studied under William Thomson.^[1]

Chemistry

He collaborated with his father in the discovery of the gaseous compound nickel carbonyl. He perfected the industrial production of iron carbonyl, and discovered the first derivative of a metallic carbonyl (cobalt nitroso-carbonyl) and a new ruthenium carbonyl.^{[citation needed]} For a time he made trials of scientific farming. Following his father's heritage he became a director of Brunner Mond & Company and because of a connection with nickel mines in Canada he was a trustee of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.^[1]

Archaeology

He then took an interest in Egyptian archaeology and worked with some of the major archaeologists of the time, including Percy Newberry, Howard Carter, Arthur Weigall and Alan Gardiner. With the last named he worked on the Theban necropolis. After World War I he was involved with the preservation of the tomb of Ramesses. He built up a considerable collection of artefacts which he bequeathed to the British Museum. He also performed archaeological work in Palestine and assisted in the foundation of a British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. Robert Mond also took an interest in model soldiers building up a collection of 900 figures representing all the regiments in Napoleon's army.^[1]

Honours and benefactions

Mond helped to convert a house in Paris into the Maison de la Chimie which supported the work of chemistry in France and he was a benefactor of the British Institute in Paris. He also made large benefactions to the universities of Liverpool, Manchester and Toronto.

He was knighted in 1932. He received numerous honours including the honorary degrees of LL.D from the universities of Liverpool and Toronto, and D.Sc from the University of London. He was made president of the Faraday Society and was awarded the Messel medal of the Society of Chemical Industry. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Fellow of the Royal Society. In France he became a commander of the Légion d'honneur and a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, thereby becoming a member of the Institut de France. He was elected president of the Société de Chimie.^[1]

Personal life

Robert Mond married twice. In 1898 he married Helen Levis and they had two daughters but Helen died following the birth of their second daughter in 1905. In her memory Mond founded the Infants' Hospital in Vincent Square, London. In 1922 he married Marie Guggenheim (née La Manach) of Belle-Île-en-Terre, Brittany and following this spent more of his life in France. He died in Paris, was cremated at the Père Lachaise Cemetery and his ashes were buried at his home at Belle-Île-en-Terre.^[1]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Greenaway, Frank, 'Mond family (per. 1867-1973)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/51124 accessed 9 March 2007.

References

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