Robert Silver

Robert Simpson Silver CBE, MA, Ph.D, D.Sc., D.Tech, F.I.Mech.E, F.Inst.P, FRSE (1913–1997) was a Scottish physicist and mechanical engineer, awarded the Unesco Prize for Science in 1968 for his discovery of a process for the demineralisation of sea water.

As reverse osmosis technology was less advanced in the mid-20th century he designed multi-stage flash equipment, of which the first operational large-scale installation was in Kuwait.

His analysis of the heat balance of these fireplaces resulted in new designs that saved tons of coal and helped reduce air pollution.

[2] Silver redesigned the marine distillers and developed the Multi-Stage Flash desalination process without which arid countries such as in the Middle East would have inadequate water supplies to this day.

Due to his work it is now practical to build desalination units far more efficient in energy consumption, and 15 times larger in capacity, than was possible before his developments.

His proposers were Hugh Bryan Nisbet, John Ronald Peddie, Frank Bell and William Harold Joseph Childs.

He was a prodigious writer to the newspapers and his thoughts on a wide range of topics could be seen regularly appearing in the letters columns of Scotland's national press.