Sir Robert Christison

Sir Robert Christison (1797–1882) was a Scottish physician and toxicologist, one of the founders of forensic medicine in Britain. The son of an Edinburgh professor, he studied in Paris under the chemist Robard and the toxicologist Orfila, and in 1822 was appointed professor of medical jurisprudence at Edinburgh, later holding the chair of materia medica for forty-five years. His Treatise on Poisons (1829, fourth edition 1845) was the standard British work on the subject, and his evidence as a medical witness, including at the trial of Burke and Hare, made him the most respected expert of his day. He was created a baronet in 1871.