Name Robert Chapman Role Engineer | Died 1942 | |
Education University of Melbourne | ||
Sir Robert William Chapman (27 December 1866 – 27 February 1942) was an Australian mathematician and engineer.
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History
Chapman was born in Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire, England, eldest son of Charles Chapman (c. 1838 – 14 September 1921), a currier from Melbourne, Australia, and his wife Matilda, née Harrison (c. 1840 – 23 October 1933). His parents returned to Melbourne in 1876, where he was educated at Wesley College and the University of Melbourne, graduating MA and BCE with first class honours in Physics and Mathematics.
In 1888, at the recommendation of Professor William Bragg, he was appointed a Lecturer in Mathematics and Physics at Adelaide University. He was appointed Professor of Engineering in 1907 and served as (Sir Thomas) Elder Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics from 1910 when Professor Bragg was appointed to the Cavendish chair of physics in the University of Leeds, then returned to his previous post in 1919. He served as Vice-Chancellor during the absence of Sir William Mitchell and retiring in 1937. He was appointed president of the School of Mines council in 1939 on the death of Sir Langdon Bonython.
His research work included:
Recognition and memberships
He was elected to the Royal Society of South Australia in 1888 and to the Australian Association for the Advancement of Science.
He was a founding member of the South Australian Institute of Engineers and a foundation member of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1921, in 1918 the first chairman of its South Australian division and the third Federal President. He was awarded their Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1928 and made honorary life member in 1932.
He was awarded Melbourne University's Kernot Medal in 1927.
He was president of the Astronomical Society of South Australia for a record 32 years and elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1902? 1909?.
He was a member of the council of the Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers and in 1920 president of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
He was a member of the South Australian Institute of Surveyors from 1912 and president 1917–1929
He was a member of the councils of both the University of Adelaide and the School of Mines.
On his retirement from the University of Adelaide in 1937 he was made Emeritus Professor; his portrait, by Ivor Hele hangs in the School of Engineering's Chapman Lecture Theatre, which was named for him.
He was appointed CMG in 1927 and knighted in 1938.
Family
On 14 February 1889 he married Eva Maud Hall, who survived him; they had six sons and two daughters: