Robert's Rules of Order
Henry Martyn Robert was a military engineer in the U.S. Army. In 1876 he published "Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies," a guide to parliamentary procedure that is still in use today. His interest in compiling Rules of Order dates from 1863 when as a young officer he presided over a disastrous meeting at a Baptist church that dissolved into chaos over the abolition question.