Obituary - Julian Perry Robinson

Professor Julian Perry Robinson, Emeritus Professor at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) and Sussex University passed away last week. Julian was a legend in CBRN arms control and was always insightful, generous and free with his time. He came from that generation of people that you needed to know nothing more of other than he was a 'gentleman.' He will be missed by me, and also our ex-Deputy Editor Steve Johnson.  

Below is a shortened version of the SPRU obituary, the full version can be found here: 

A trained chemist and patent lawyer, Julian possessed the ideal background to wrestle with the thorny issues regarding how to prevent chemical and biological warfare (CBW). Working at SIPRI in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Julian was the principal author of the six volumes on The Problem of Chemical and Biological Warfare, a work that remains a seminal source of historical, legal and scientific information on CBW and required reading for all those entering the field. He also produced ground-breaking reports on CBW for the United Nations and the World Health Organization. These were all essential inputs in the negotiation of the Biological Weapons Convention. It is notable that Julian’s webpage on the University of Sussex website states modestly:

“This work perhaps contributed to the successful conclusion of the 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons and the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.”

Only Julian would have inserted the word ‘perhaps’!

The SPRU Military Technology and Arms Limitation Group and Harvard-Sussex Program

It was at SIPRI that Julian met and teamed up with Mary Kaldor. In 1971, they left to join the University of Sussex and subsequently SPRU, where they established and led the Military Technology and Arms Limitation (MTAL) Group and the Armament and Disarmament Information Unit (ADIU). Among those who have worked in the group before going on to illustrious careers elsewhere are William Walker, Jordi Molas-Gallart, Brian Balmer, Richard Guthrie and Daniel Feakes. In addition, Julian and Matthew Meselson set up and ran the Harvard-Sussex Program (HSP), with the two of them editing The CBW Conventions Bulletin (published quarterly from Sussex), the journal of record in the field. Together, they and their colleagues built up an unrivalled archive of publications, reports and grey literature on CBW and on military armament and disarmament more generally. For decades, the Harvard-Sussex Program and its archive was the ‘Mecca’ that brought a continuous stream of eminent visitors from government, academia, NGOs and elsewhere to SPRU for information as well as an opportunity to discuss issues with Julian and his colleagues. Indeed, such was the volume of the archive that, when SPRU moved into the new Freeman Centre in 2003, the building had to be constructed with a specially reinforced floor to take the considerable weight of the archive.

Julian, Matthew and their HSP colleagues worked continually with governments, international organisations and NGOs in the CBW field, providing wide-ranging benefits to CBW debates and policy. They provided rigorous evidence-based information and argument that has helped sustain work in the UK and elsewhere in negotiating and implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), maintaining the effectiveness of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and sustaining the overall efficacy of the international regime against the misuse of biology and chemistry. HSP’s work helped shape perceptions of the key issues, the challenges to be faced and possible steps that could be taken to address those challenges. In particular, Julian is widely credited with coming up with the principal criterion for judging the worth of possible multilateral agreements on chemical weapons: not, ‘Is the agreement verifiable?’, but instead, ‘Will we as a state be better off inside the agreement than outside it?’

In 1984, the MacArthur Foundation awarded one of its fellowships to Matthew Meselson. Commonly known as the ‘Genius Grant’, these awards are restricted to citizens or residents of the United States, but in this case the Fellowship was undoubtedly a recognition of the outstanding collective contributions of Matthew and Julian to arms control. Subsequently, the MacArthur Foundation was the primary funder of HSP’s work over many years, a tribute to MacArthur's confidence in its importance and quality.  It also provided HSP with much needed continuity.

‘Yellow rain’ and bee faeces

The HSP research had a number of specific impacts. One involved the ‘yellow rain’ controversy. In 1981, the U.S. Government accused the Soviet Union of supplying T-2 mycotoxin to communist states in Vietnam and elsewhere. Refugees described attacks supposedly involving sticky yellow liquid being dropped from planes or helicopters. However, work by Julian and other independent scientists revealed the ‘yellow rain’ was due to mass defecation of digested pollen by large swarms of bees, probably one of the very first examples of the debunking of fake news. Another example involves incapacitating agents, where HSP collaborated widely with civil society organisations and scientific communities in developing recommendations and pressuring governments on this controversial issue. More generally, through the HSP, Robinson introduced rigorous scholarship into public policy discussion and mentored generations of CBW researchers, policy shapers and policy makers from across the world. Many continue to work in related fields, meaning that Julian’s influence on preventing the misuse of chemistry and biology will last generations. As the respected authors Jeremy Paxman and Robert Harris acknowledge in their book on chemical and biological weapons, A Higher Form of Killing, all students in this field owe Julian Perry Robinson a debt.

Pugwash

For 40 years, Julian was a central figure in Pugwash, the international organization that, through its conferences on science and world affairs, brings together scholars and public figures to work towards reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. In his role on the steering committee for Pugwash’s Chemical Warfare Study Group between 1974 and 1992, Julian did much to advance the cause of a Chemical Weapons Convention. Under his guidance, the Study Group enabled useful and constructive dialogue between Western and East European ‘experts’. The Study Group’s pioneering work on the philosophy and design of on-site industry inspections allowed prominent figures in the chemical industry to become aware of the demands that CW disarmament would place on their corporations. This work eased the way for CWC negotiators when they later drew industry into their talks. The Group’s ‘learning by doing’ approach was also emulated by negotiators as they performed national trial inspections. After 1992, Julian retained his steering committee position when the group was reconstituted to become the Pugwash Study Group on Implementation of the CBW Conventions.

In addition, Julian served as an advisor or consultant to numerous national and international organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, including the World Health Organization (WHO), other parts of the United Nations system, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the UK National Authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention, and the Commission of the European Communities.

‘The David Attenborough of CBW’

In 2007, a celebration was held to mark Julian’s formal retirement, although he never really retired, continuing to work in recent years on the use of chemical weapons in Syria and on novichoks following the Salisbury poisonings.