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Sir Robert Abbott Hadfield

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"SIR ROBERT ABBOTT HADFIELD, 1ST Bart. (1859-), British metallurgist, was born at Sheffield Nov. 29 1859, and was educated at Sheffield collegiate school. At an early age he interested himself in metallurgy, and in particular carried out much research on the manufacture of steel. In 1883 he patented his process for the production of manganese steel ( see 14.809), the first important known substance to combine great hardness with great malleability. From this time he became famous as the inventor or improver of various metallurgical processes. He was the inventor of low hysteresis steel, and also produced the " Era " steel for use in armour-plating, besides many special alloys. He became a member of many scientific committees, and was president of the Sheffield Metallurgical Society (1894-5), of the Iron and Steel Institute (1905-7), and of the Society of British Gas Industries (1917-8), besides being master cutler of Sheffield from 1899 to 1900. In 1908 he was knighted, and the following year became F.R.S. Sir Robert Hadfield received many honours from scientific and learned societies, including the Howard prize (1908), the Bessemer gold medal (1904), the Elliott Cresson gold medal (1910) and the John Fritz medal (1921) from various American societies. He was created a baronet in 1917.