Robert H. Brill

Who is Robert H. Brill?

Dr Robert Brill is in the field of archaeological science, best known for his work on the chemical analysis of ancient glass. Born in the United States of America in 1929, Brill attended West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey, before going on to study for his B.S. degree at Upsala College, also New Jersey. Having completed his Ph.D in Physical Chemistry at Rutgers University in 1954, Brill was to return to Upsala College to teach chemistry himself until 1960 when he joined the staff of the Corning Museum of Glass as their second research scientist

Throughout his lengthy career at Corning, where a four-year directorship punctuated his time as a research scientist, Brill was a forerunner in the scientific investigation of glass, glazes and colorants, developing and challenging the usefulness of emerging techniques. His pioneering work with the application of lead and oxygen isotope analysis in archaeology led him occasionally to add the investigation of metal objects to his portfolio so that, together, his published works number more than 160. Perhaps the most famous of these is his Chemical Analyses of Early Glass, a sum of his 39 years of work and now a seminal reference guide in the field.