John Robison

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(4 February 1739 – 30 January 1805) was a British physicist and mathematician. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior throu ...

(the precursor of natural science) at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. A member of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society when it received its royal warrant, he was appointed as the first general secretary to the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(1783–98). Robison invented the

siren Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisc ...

and also worked with

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

on an early

steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...

. Following the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, Robison became disenchanted with elements of the Enlightenment. He authored ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'' in 1797—a polemic accusing Freemasonry of being infiltrated by Weishaupt's Order of the

Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...

. His son was the inventor Sir John Robison (1778–1843).

Biography

The son of John Robison, a Glasgow merchant, he was born in Boghall,

Baldernock Baldernock (;G.M. Miller, ''BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names'' (Oxford UP, 1971), p. 9. Gaelic: ''Baile D' Earnaig'') meaning 'settlement of St Earnaig' (Iain Mac an Táilleir, Sabhall Mór Ostaig) is a small parish in East Dunbartons ...

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirli ...

(now East Dunbartonshire) and attended

Glasgow Grammar School The High School of Glasgow is an independent, co-educational day school in Glasgow, Scotland. The original High School of Glasgow was founded as the choir school of Glasgow Cathedral in around 1124, and is the oldest school in Scotland, and t ...

and the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

(MA 1756). After a brief stay in London in 1758 Robison became the tutor to the

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

son of Admiral Knowles, sailing with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

General Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. ...

's expedition to Quebec and Portugal (1756–62). His

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

skills were employed in

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

and

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

. Returning to Britain in 1762, he joined the

Board of Longitude The Commissioners for the Discovery of the Longitude at Sea, or more popularly Board of Longitude, was a British government body formed in 1714 to administer a scheme of prizes intended to encourage innovators to solve the problem of finding lon ...

— a team of scientists who tested

John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English Carpentry, carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the History of longitude, problem of calculating longitude while at s ...

marine chronometer A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), or in the modern ...

on a voyage to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. Subsequently, he settled in Glasgow engaging in the practical science of

and

Joseph Black Joseph Black (16 April 1728 – 6 December 1799) was a Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry at the University of Glas ...

in opposition to the systematic continental European chemistry of

Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), When reduced without charcoal, it gave off an air which supported respiration and combustion in an enhanced way. He concluded that this was just a pure form of common air and th ...

and its adherents such as

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

. In 1766 he succeeded Black as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. He in turn was succeeded in 1770 by Black's assistant, William Irvine. In 1769, he announced that balls with like electrical charges repel each other with a force that varies as the inverse-square of the distance between them, anticipating

Coulomb's law Coulomb's inverse-square law, or simply Coulomb's law, is an experimental law of physics that quantifies the amount of force between two stationary, electrically charged particles. The electric force between charged bodies at rest is conventiona ...

of 1785. In 1770 he travelled to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

as the secretary of Admiral Charles Knowles, where he taught

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

to the cadets at the

Naval Academy A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers. See also * Military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally pro ...

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...

, obtaining a double salary and the rank of lieutenant colonel. Robison moved to Scotland in 1773 and took up the post of Professor of

at the

. He lectured on

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects r ...

hydrostatics Fluid statics or hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies the condition of the equilibrium of a floating body and submerged body " fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and the pressure in a fluid, or exerted by a fluid, on an imm ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

and

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

. His conception of

mechanical philosophy The mechanical philosophy is a form of natural philosophy which compares the universe to a large-scale mechanism (i.e. a machine). The mechanical philosophy is associated with the scientific revolution of early modern Europe. One of the first expos ...

’ became influential in nineteenth-century British physics. His name appears in the 1776 "Minute Book of

The Poker Club The Poker Club was one of several clubs at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment where many associated with that movement met and exchanged views in a convivial atmosphere. History The Poker Club was created in 1762 out of the ashes of The S ...

", a crucible of the

Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...

. In 1783 he became General Secretary of the

and in 1797 his articles for the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'' gave a good account of the scientific, mathematical and technological knowledge of the day. He also prepared for publication, in 1799, the chemical lectures of his friend and mentor,

. Robison worked with

on an early

. This project came to nothing and has no direct connection to Watt's later improvement of the

Newcomen steam engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creati ...

. He along with Joseph Black and others gave evidence about Watt's originality and their own lack of connection to his key idea of the Separate Condenser. Robison did however invent the

, though it was

Charles Cagniard de la Tour Baron Charles Cagniard de la Tour (31 March 1777 – 5 July 1859) was a French engineer and physicist. Charles Cagniard was born in Paris, and after attending the École Polytechnique became one of the ''ingénieurs géographiques''. He examined t ...

who named it after producing an improved model.

Proofs of a Conspiracy

Towards the end of his life he published ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'' in 1797, alleging clandestine intrigue by the ''

'' and

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

(the work's full title was ''Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the secret meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati and Reading Societies''). The

secret agent Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

monk,

Alexander Horn Alexander Horn (or Dom Maurus Horn, OSB; 28 June 1762 – 1820), was a Scottish Benedictine monk who became a secret agent and diplomat. His work contributed to the birth of the conspiracy theory of the illuminati.Mark Dilworth, ‘Horn, Alexander ...

provided much of the material for Robison's allegations.Dilworth, Mark. ''"Horn, Alexander (1762–1820),"''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

, Oxford University Press, 2004 French priest Abbé Barruel independently developed similar views that the ''Illuminati'' had infiltrated

Continental Freemasonry Continental Freemasonry, otherwise known as Liberal Freemasonry, Latin Freemasonry, and Adogmatic Freemasonry, includes the Masonic lodges, primarily on the European continent, that recognize the Grand Orient de France (GOdF) or belong to CLIP ...

, leading to the excesses of the

. In 1798, the Reverend G. W. Snyder sent Robison's book to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

for his thoughts on the subject in which he replied to him in a letter: Modern conspiracy theorists, such as

Nesta Webster Nesta Helen Webster (née Bevan, 24 August 1876 – 16 May 1960) was an English author who promoted antisemitic canards and revived theories about the Illuminati.Who are the Illuminati? ''Independent on Sunday'' (London) 6 November 2005. S ...

and

William Guy Carr William James Guy Carr ( R.D. Commander R.C.N. (R)) (2 June 1895 – 2 October 1959) was an English-born Canadian naval officer, author, and conspiracy theorist. Though he first came to notice with books about his military experiences as a s ...

, believe the methods of the Illuminati as described in ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'' were copied by radical groups throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in their subversion of benign organizations. Spiritual Counterfeits Project editor Tal Brooke has compared the views of ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'' with those found in

Carroll Quigley Carroll Quigley (; November 9, 1910 – January 3, 1977) was an American historian and theorist of the evolution of civilizations. He is remembered for his teaching work as a professor at Georgetown University, and for his writing about g ...

's ''Tragedy and Hope'' (

Macmillan MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to: People * McMillan (surname) * Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan * Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician * James MacMillan, Scottish composer * William Duncan MacMillan ...

, 1966). Brooke suggests that the New World Order, which Robison believed

Adam Weishaupt Johann Adam Weishaupt (; 6 February 1748 – 18 November 1830)''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'Vol. 41, p. 539Engel, Leopold. ''Geschichte des Illuminaten-ordens''. Berlin: H. Bermühler Verlag, 1906.van Dülmen, Richard. ''Der Geheimbund der Ill ...

(founder of the Illuminati) had in part accomplished through the infiltration of Freemasonry, will now be completed by those holding sway over the international banking system (e.g., by means of the

Rothschilds The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

' banks, the U.S.

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

, the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

, and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

Works

* ''Outlines of Mechanical philosophy: Containing the Heads of a Course of Lectures,'' Edinburgh, William Creech, 1781. * ''Outlines of a Course of Experimental Philosophy,'' Edinburgh, William Creech, 1784. * ''Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Mechanical Philosophy'', Edinburgh, J. Brown, 1803. * ''Elements of Mechanical Philosophy: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures on that Science'', Edinburgh, Archibald Constable, 1804. * Robison contributed well over forty articles to the third edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1797) and its supplement, including: ''Resistance of Fluids,'' ''Roof,'' ''Running of Rivers,'' ''Seamanship,'' ''Telescope'' and ''Water-works.'' * ''A System of Mechanical Philosophy'',Vol. 2Vol. 3Vol. 4
Edinburgh, J. Murray, 1822.

''Proofs of a Conspiracy'', reprints and related documents

* ''Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free-Masons, Illuminati and Reading Societies, etc., collected from good authorities'', Edinburgh, 1797; 2nd ed. London, T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1797 with a Postscript
3rd ed.
with Postscript, Philadelphia, T. Dobson & W. Cobbet, 1798
4th ed.
G. Forman, New York, 1798; Dublin 1798; ''Proofs of a Conspiracy'', Western Islands, 1900; ''The Illuminati'', taken from "Proofs of a world conspiracy", Elizabeth Knauss

930 Year 930 ( CMXXX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * 17 June (traditional date) – The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is established at ...

''Proof's ic!of a Conspiracy'', Ram Reprints, 1964; ''Proofs of a conspiracy'', Boston, Western Islands, "The Americanist Classics", 967 ''Proofs of a Conspiracy,'' Islands Press, 1978; C P a Book Pub, 2002 ; Kessinger Publishing, 2003 ; annotated 5th ed. with foreword by Alex Kurtagic, ''Proofs of a Conspiracy,'' The Palingenesis Project (Wermod and Wermod Publishing Group), 2014 ; annotated 6th ed., "Proofs of a Conspiracy," Spradabach Publishing, 2022 .
''Ueber geheime Gesellschaften und deren Gefährlichkeit für Staat und Religion...''
translated in German, Königslutter, 1800. ** nti-Jacobin ''New Lights on Jacobinism'', abstracted from Professor Robison's History of Free Masonry, with an appendix containing an account of Voltaire's behaviour on his death-bed, and a letter from J. H. Stone to Dr. Priestley, disclosing the principles of Jacobinism. By the author o
''Jacobinism Displayed''
Birmingham, E. Piercy, Birmingham, 1798. ** William Bentley & John Bacon, ''Extracts from Professor Robison’s "Proofs of a Conspiracy" & c., with Brief Reflections on the Charges he has Exhibited, the Evidence he has Produced and the Merit of his Performance,'' Boston, Manning & Loring, Boston, 1799. ** Abraham Bishop
''Proofs of a Conspiracy, Against Christianity, and the Government of the United States,''
J. Babcock, 1802. ** Seth Payson
''Proofs of the Real Existence, and Dangerous Tendency, of Illuminism, Containing an Abstract of what Dr. Robinson and the Abbé Barruel have Published on this Subject; with Collateral Proofs and General Observations,''
Charlestown, 1802 eprinted by Invisible College Press, LLC, 2003 ** Henry Dana Ward
''Free Masonry. Its Pretensions Exposed in Faithful Extracts of its Standard Authors; with a Review of Town's Speculative Masonry; its Liability to Pervert the Doctrines of Revealed Religion, Discovered in the Spirit of its Doctrines, and in the Application of its Emblems: its Dangerous Tendency Exhibited in Extracts from the Abbé Barruel and Professor Robison, and Further Illustrated in its Base Service to the Illuminati,''
New York, 1828.

Sources

Past anti-Masons : John Robison, on masonicinfo.com

Biography, Papers of John Robison, Edinburgh University Library

* ttps://archive.org/stream/philosophicalmag10lond#page/348/mode/2up "Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Robison,"''Philosophical Magazine,'' Vol. X, 1801.
"Biographical Memoirs of Dr. Robinson, of Edinburgh,"
''Philosophical Magazine,'' Vol. XIII, 1802.

References

External links

* ttp://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/robison_john.htm Biography at ''Significant Scots''
Introduction and first two chapters of Robison's book: "Proofs of a Conspiracy ..."
* Gruber, Hermann (1910)

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII. NY: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 661–663.
Darkness Over All: John Robison and the Birth of the Illuminati Conspiracy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robison, John 1739 births 1805 deaths People from East Dunbartonshire Alumni of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Glasgow Scottish chemists Scottish inventors Scottish physicists British conspiracy theorists Anti-Masonry Royal Navy officers Scottish sailors Members of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh Enlightenment scientists Illuminati conspiracy theorists 18th-century Scottish scientists 18th-century British chemists 18th-century British physicists