Robin Jon Hawes Clark. 16 February 1935—6 December 2018

Abstract

Robin Clark was a distinguished physical/inorganic chemist who made major discoveries in the coordination chemistry of the early transition metals, especially of titanium and vanadium complexes with high coordination numbers (notably seven and eight) and of the structures and physical properties of mixed valence, linear chain and metal–metal bonded compounds. He applied far-infrared spectroscopy to study metal–ligand vibrations systematically and established the technique for structure elucidation of transition metal and main group compounds. He also developed Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy applied to inorganic compounds and highly coloured solids including mineral samples. That work led to his seminal applications of microbeam Raman spectroscopy for the identification of pigments and other constituents of artworks and historical artefacts, thereby developing a basis for testing their provenance and the identification of forgeries.