Short answers, pulled from the story.
Louis-Nicolas Robert was born on the 2nd of December 1761 to aging parents on rue Neuve-Saint-Eustache in Paris. He grew up physically frail yet remained studious and ambitious throughout his childhood.
Louis-Nicolas Robert joined the First Battalion of the Grenoble Artillery on the 23rd of April 1780 and fought against English forces in Saint-Domingue for fourteen years until around 1794. Some accounts suggest he left the army at age twenty-eight in 1790 instead.
Robert constructed a moving screen belt receiving continuous flow of stock and delivering unbroken wet paper to squeeze rolls after building prototypes between 1795 and 1798. The French Government granted him patent number brevet d'invention in 1799 for which he paid 8,000 francs.
John Gamble received British patent number 2487 on the 20th of October 1801 for an improved version of Louis-Nicolas Robert's original machine while working with brothers Sealy and Henry Fourdrinier. Approximately £60,000 of development costs were incurred before the Fourdriniers received new patents.
Louis-Nicolas Robert died on the 8th of August 1828 after retiring from paper-making due to poor health in 1812. A statue stands today in front of the church in Vernouillet honoring his memory and the Collège de Louis-Nicolas Robert bears his name as well.