Richard Andrew "Dick" Dobbins was born July 15, 1925 in Burlington, Mass., the son of William John Dobbins and Catherine Porter Dobbins, who were both born in County Donegal, Ireland. He grew up on his parents' farm in Burlington, graduating from Burlington High School. He served in the Navy in World War II from 19431946. Professor Dobbins graduated from Harvard in 1948, having majored in Engineering and Physics. He earned a Master's degree in Physics from Northeastern in 1958, and a PhD from Princeton in Aeronautical Engineering in 1961. Professor Dobbins taught in the Division of Engineering at Brown University from 1961 to 1993 in the area of Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics; he also served as Chair of the Division of Engineering from 1983 to 1988. During his tenure, and as a Professor Emeritus, his research was a very important part of his career, collaborating with talented graduate students and peers. He had sabbaticals at California Institute of Technology, the Abadan Institute of Technology (Iran) and the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) in Maryland. He consulted for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA, among others. He published numerous technical articles on his research, and was well recognized in the international aerosol research community. In 2001 the American Association of Aerosol Research awarded Professor Dobbins the David Sinclair Award for Sustained Excellence in Aerosol Research, recognizing his seminal work on formation of soot particles during combustion, a topic of great importance for the environment and climate change. In 1979, he authored a book titled Atmospheric Motion and Air Pollution, published by Wiley. He continued going to his office and had an active research program until 2011.
The Richard A. Dobbins research papers contain research notes, spectral imaging, and memos relating to the Dobbins Lab at Brown University. The collection dates from 1970 to 2009, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1991 to 2009. Boxes 1 and 3-6 contain written notes, while the printed images are housed in Box 2.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Richard Dobbins research papers, AMS-1UF-2019-005, Brown University Library.
The collection is divided into 5 series.