Robert Plot (Borden, Kent, England, 1640 December 13 - Borden, 1696 April 30), was a British naturalist, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. He is known for looking for natural curiosities in several English counties, writing Natural History of Oxfordshire and Natural History of Staffordshire, in which he describes a double sunset.

In 1677 he became a fellow of the Royal Society due to his exhibit of minerals, and in 1682 became the society's Secretary and joint editor of the Philosophical Transactions . In the field of chemistry he searched for a universal solvent that could be obtained from wine spirits, and believed alchemy was necessary for medicine. After 1686 Robert Plot focused more on archaeology, but misinterpreted Roman remains as Saxon. He stressed the unusual, studied echoes to learn about air, mineral waters, and recognised types of earth in layers, but believed fossil shellfish were coincidental mineral crystallisations, and that some spring water must originate from the sea flowing through underground channels.

References

• "Dictionary of Scientific Biography." Linda Hall Library. Accessed on March 27, 2005.
• "Robert Plot." Oxford Museum of Natural History. Accessed on March 27, 2005.