born June 29, 1863, Bloomington, Ill., U.S.
died Feb. 16, 1936, New York, N.Y.
U.S. historian.
Robinson received his doctorate from the University of Freiburg and returned to the U.S. to teach European history, principally at Columbia University (1895–1919). In The New History (1912), he called for the use of the social sciences in historical scholarship and put forth his controversial contention that the study of the past should serve primarily to improve the present. Among his other works are The Mind in the Making (1921) and several influential textbooks, including The Development of Modern Europe (1907–08; with Charles Beard ).