Carol V. Robinson

By Erik J. Larson, PhD

Robinson is Royal Society Research Professor at the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Oxford. She is also a Professorial Fellow and Dr. Lee’s Professor of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at Exeter College. She has also held a full professorship in Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. Robinson began working for Pfizer immediately after high school, and received her degree in chemistry by taking night classes. She then enrolled at the University of Swansea and received her master’s degree in Chemistry, then her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge.

Robinson is widely regarded as an excellent chemist. She is an expert in spectrometry, where she has analyzed core phenomena like protein folding. She has made major advances in a technique known as “electrospray ionization mass spectrometry,” which proves complex macromolecules like proteins can be studies in a gas phase. Robinson also has the distinction of being the first female professor at both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford (2009).

Robinson received the coveted Davy Medal in 2010 for “for her ground-breaking and novel use of mass spectrometry for the characterization of large protein complexes.” She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society (2004). In 2017, Robinson Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences.

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