Robert William Hall was born in Armagh, Ireland, on April 25, 1853. He graduated from Princeton University in 1873 with an A.B., and then from Columbia University's School of Mines (subsequently the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science) in 1876, obtaining the degrees of M.A. and M.E. From 1879 to 1888, he served as manufacturing chemist to the American Gas Fuel and Light Company and to some associated companies. Hall entered NYU (then the University of the City of New York) during the fall of 1888 as Acting Assistant Professor of General Chemistry. In the autumn of 1890, Hall became Professor of Analytical Chemistry and served as both the Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry department chairs during the 1890-1891 academic year. Professor Morris Loeb assumed the Chemistry chairmanship in the fall of 1891, and Professor Hall remained the Analytical Chemistry chair thereafter. Hall began teaching quantitative chemical analysis (the subject of his lecture notes) in the fall of 1892 at the University’s Old Main Building in Washington Sqaure; he moved uptown with the University’s Chemistry Laboratory at the newly opened University Heights Campus in 1894. Professor Hall also served as Treasurer of NYU’s Athletic Association, founding member and Chairman of the University’s Summer School Program (1895-1904), Reader of Chemistry for the College Entrance Examination Board (ca. 1902-1903), and as a member of the Chemical Club. Hall resigned from his professorship at NYU in 1904.
From the guide to the Robert Hall Notebook, circa 1896-1904, (New York University Archives)
