Robert H. Brill - The 1980s

The 1980s

In 1982, Brill joined the International Commission on Glass, ‘the world’s leading organization of glass scientists and technologists’ according to the Corning Museum (2009). The International Commission functions through various technical committees, among which Brill saw an opening for TC17, the committee for the Archaeometry of Glass, which he founded shortly after joining. The main purpose of TC17, whose members met for the first time in Beijing in 1984, is ‘to bring together glass scientists, archaeologists and museum curators to present and discuss the results of research on early glass and glassmaking and on the conservation of historical glass objects’, as expressed in their mission statement (Archaeometry of Glass 2005). Brill was to chair this committee until 2004 and received the W E S Turner Award from the International Commission of Glass on his departure, in recognition of his contribution as founder (Corning Museum of Glass 2009).