Robin Clark

Career Clark began teaching at University College London in 1962 as an assistant lecturer. He was appointed Sir William Ramsay Professor in 1989, and served until retirement in 2009. He served as the dean of science from 1988 to 1989 and later as head of the chemistry department from 1989 to 1999.

Clark died in London on 6 December 2018.

Artwork authentication In 1992, Clark was asked to develop a non-destructive technique to analyze the chemical composition of a painting in such a way to be able to spot art forgeries. He had since developed the use of Raman spectroscopy as an important tool for use in the fields of artwork authentication, conservation, and preservation.

Awards and honours Over the course of his career, Clark delivered several named lectures and received multiple awards. In 1969, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 1989, he was granted honorary fellowship by the Royal Society of New Zealand. He became a fellow of the Royal Society of London and member of the Academia Europaea in 1990. Two years later, he was elected a fellow of University College London and the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2001 he was conferred with an honorary DSc by the University of Canterbury. Clark was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to science and New Zealand interests in the United Kingdom, followed by elections as a foreign fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India in 2007 and as an international member of the American Philosophical Society in 2010.

Selected works