Brian Harford Robinson

Brian Harford Robinson (24 April 1940 – 30 August 2016) was a New Zealand inorganic chemist. He is noted for his contribution to cluster chemistry and the design of organometallic compounds with biomedical applications.

Early life and education Born in Christchurch on 24 April 1940, Robinson was the son of Jack Robinson and Lurline Robinson (née Cross). He was educated at Christchurch Boys' High School, and then studied at the University of Canterbury, graduating Master of Science with second-class honours in chemistry in 1962. He completed a PhD at the same institution in 1964. His thesis, titled Studies in the coordination chemistry of certain transition metals, elucidated the first structure of a cluster compound and its unusual delocalised bonding.

Academic and research career After periods of post-doctoral research at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the University of Manchester in 1965 and 1966, and served as the head of the Department of Chemistry from 1986 to 1998.

Building on his doctoral research, Robinson proposed that metal carbonyl clusters could participate in electron transfer reactions, and demonstrated that clusters are able to be reversibly reduced. Other research areas that he pursued included the design of organometallic compounds for use in biomedical research, and the development of molecular switches. In 2013, Robinson became chair of the board of the Dunedin branch of the University of the Third Age.

Robinson died in Wellington on 30 August 2016.

Honours and awards In 1999 Robinson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. In 2010 he was awarded a Marsden Medal by the New Zealand Association of Scientists, in recognition of his lifetime contribution to science. He was also a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, and the Society of Perfumers and Flavourists.

An active Rotarian, Robinson was a recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship for community service in 2004.