Honorary doctorate for Oxford chemistry professor

Professor Dame Carol Robinson received an Honorary Doctorate of the University for services to science and industry

A WORLD-renowned scientist, who achieved eminence despite leaving school at 16 and later taking a lengthy career to break to raise her children, has been honoured by the University of Huddersfield.

Dame Carol Robinson currently holds the Chair of Doctor Lee’s Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, where she was the first female Professor of Chemistry.

Before that she was the first female Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge and she is renowned for groundbreaking research on the application of mass spectrometry to solving problems in chemical biology.

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Dame Carol was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of the University of Huddersfield during one of the 32 graduation ceremonies taking place over the course of nine days.

An oration was delivered by Professor Mike Page, who outlined Dame Carol’s life story and her “amazing” scientific achievements, all the more impressive considering her early education.

She left school at 16, and went to work as a laboratory technician for pharmaceutical firm Pfizer, one of the first companies to put new technology of mass spectrometry to commercial use.

“Carol became the technician who operated the instrument and immediately took to it.  In those days it was always breaking down and Carol had to fix it, so she ended up knowing and understanding how the equipment worked inside-out.  Even at this young age Carol was pushing at the boundaries of what mass spectrometers could do,” said Professor Page.

She also studied part-time, leading to her first chemistry degree.  Eventually she completed a PhD at Cambridge, but after spell of postdoctoral research she paused her scientific career for eight years to bring up her three children.

Then she secured a research post in the mass spectrometry unit at Oxford University and she began to use the technology in innovative ways, to study the shape and structure of large complex biomolecules.  This would be innovative work, leading to senior academic posts and a string of awards.  Professor Robinson would be made a Dame in the 2013 New Year Honours and in 2015 she became a L’Oréal-UNESCO Laureate for Women in Science.

When she thanked the University of Huddersfield for her honorary award, Dame Carol advised new science graduates to emulate her and take “the path less travelled”.  She urged the students to “have a fabulous career and make a difference”.