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 Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

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

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

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...

(the precursor of natural science) at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. 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 (RSE) 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 establis ...

(1783–98). Robison invented the siren 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 f ...

on an early steam car. Following the French Revolution, 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. 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. ) meaning 'settlement of St Earnaig' (Iain Mac an Táilleir, Sabhall Mór Ostaig) is a small parish in East Dunbartonshire (formerly in Stirlingshi ...

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling ( ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.Registers of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. It borders Perthshir ...

(now East Dunbartonshire) and attended Glasgow Grammar School and the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

(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 Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

son of Admiral Knowles, sailing with the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

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

mathematical Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

skills were employed in

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

and

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the land, terrestrial Plane (mathematics), two-dimensional or Three-dimensional space#In Euclidean geometry, three-dimensional positions of Point (geom ...

. Returning to Britain in 1762, he joined the

Board of Longitude Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard ...

— a team of scientists who tested

John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was an English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the History of longitude, problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea. Harrison's sol ...

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), and the time at t ...

on a voyage to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

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

and

Joseph Black Joseph Black (16 April 1728 – 6 December 1799) was a British 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 Glasgow ...

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 that i ...

and its adherents such as

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...

. 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 scientific law, law of physics that calculates the amount of force (physics), force between two electric charge, electrically charged particles at rest. This electric for ...

of 1785. In 1770 he travelled to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

as the secretary of Admiral Charles Knowles, where he taught

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

to the cadets at the

Naval Academy A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers. List of naval academies See also

* Military academy {{Authority control Naval academies, Naval lists ...

Kronstadt Kronstadt (, ) is a Russian administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg, near the head ...

, 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 () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

hydrostatics Hydrostatics is the branch of fluid mechanics that studies fluids at hydrostatic equilibrium and "the pressure in a fluid or exerted by a fluid on an immersed body". The word "hydrostatics" is sometimes used to refer specifically to water and ...

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

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

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, ...

. His conception of

mechanical philosophy Mechanism is the belief that natural wholes (principally living things) are similar to complicated machines or artifacts, composed of parts lacking any intrinsic relationship to each other. The doctrine of mechanism in philosophy comes in two diff ...

' became influential in nineteenth-century British physics. His name appears in the 1776 "Minute Book of The Poker Club", a crucible of the

Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment (, ) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century, Scotland had a network of parish schools in the Sco ...

. In 1783 he became General Secretary of the

and in 1797 his articles for the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

'' 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 steam car. 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 sometimes referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam being drawn into the cylinder, thereby creating ...

. 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 siren, 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 '' Illuminati'' and

Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

(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, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

monk, Alexander Horn 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 History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

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

Continental Freemasonry Liberal Freemasonry, also known as Continental Freemasonry or Adogmatic Freemasonry, is a major philosophical tradition within Freemasonry that emphasizes absolute freedom of conscience, philosophical inquiry, and progressive social values. Libe ...

, leading to the excesses of the French Revolution. In 1798, the Reverend G. W. Snyder sent Robison's book to

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

for his thoughts on the subject in which he replied to him in a letter:

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. 2
thinsp;
Vol. 3
thinsp;
Vol. 4
thinsp;

''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 ''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