Robert Le Rossignol

Part One: The true story of the discovery of 'fixation'.- Robert Le Rossignol The early years, Victoria College, UCL and Ramsay.-  Fritz Haber and Karlsruhe Breslau to Karlsruhe …  an unexpected journey.- Germany and ‘fixation’ Of the ‘Prussian’, Chile, and 'fixed' nitrogen.- The Golden Chemist Robert’s 'ammonia apprenticeship' at UCL.- Hamburg, May 12^th 1907 The Bunsen Society Meeting.- Determination of the ammonia equilibrium under pressure.- Taking care of business Haber’s contracts with the BASF and Le Rossignol.- 8. The ‘Big Fix’ Synthetic ammonia at Karlsruhe.-  Part Two: The industrialisation of ‘fixation’ and the Great War.- The Auergesellschaft, Berlin Tungsten filaments and a pawn in a power game.- Of Koppel and the Kaiser Progress at the BASF, 'fixation' revealed, and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, Berlin.- From Karlsruhe to Oppau Industrialisation of the Haber-Le Rossignol process.- Berlin, 1911-1914 Of patents, publications and the prelude to the Great War.-  Haber and the 'Chemists’  War'. 1914-1918 Fixation' and gas warfare.- Robert’s war. 1914-1918 Internment at Ruhleben, release to the ‘Auer’ and finally home.- Part Three: The GEC Laboratories, the second world war and retirement.- The Post-War Years, 1919-1930 Of airships, unfinished business from Germany and the GEC Laboratories.- The Post-War Years, 1930-1939 Of CATs, Cambridge and the BBC.- The Second World War and immediate post-war years. 1939-1949 Wembley at war, ‘St Helier’ and retirement.- Penn, Buckinghamshire. 1949-1976 Retirement years, ‘coming out’ and remarkable benevolence.- February 2012 A personal pilgrimage to Penn to meet with some who still remember the Le Rossignols.- End Notes and References.- Appendix A: Heat capacity and enthalpy.- Appendix B: The Third Law in action; thermodynamics of the n-butane to iso-butane isomerism.- Appendix C: The Nernst approximation formula.- Appendix D: The Haber(-Le Rossignol) equations 1907-1914.- Appendix E: Thermionic valves.- Appendix F: Robert Le Rossignol’s patents. 1909-1956.