born 1811, Coleford, Gloucestershire, Eng.
died January 1891, Coleford
British steelmaker.
He was the son of the ironmaster David Mushet (1772–1847). Robert's discovery in 1868 that adding tungsten to steel greatly increases its hardness even after air cooling produced the first commercial steel alloy , a material that formed the basis for the development of tool steels for the machining of metals. Mushet also discovered that the addition of manganese to steel produced by the Bessemer process improved the steel's ability to withstand rolling and forging at high temperatures.