Biographical entry Kernot, William Charles (1845 - 1909)

Summary

William Charles Kernot arrived in Australia in 1851. He studied at the University of Melbourne and worked in the Victorian Department of Mines and Water Supply Office. He was Lecturer in Engineering, University of Melbourne 1868-82 and Professor 1883-1909. President of the Royal Society of Victoria 1885-1900.

Details

Educated University of Melbourne (BA 1865, MA 1866, Certificate of Engineering, MCE). Worked in various government departments and as a part-time lecturer in Engineering 1866-75, expanded his University teaching and engaged in consulting work from 1875. Australia's first Professor of Engineering, University of Melbourne 1883-1909. President, Victorian Institution of Engineers, The Victorian Institute of Surveyors and The Royal Society of Victoria 1885-1900. Commemorated by the Kernot Medal for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia.

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• William Charles Kernot - Records, 1893 - 1909, MS 41; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• William Charles Kernot - Records, 1893 - 1963, MS 2276; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• William Charles Kernot - Records, 1877 - 1908; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Murray-Smith, S., 'Kernot, William Charles (1845-1909)', in Douglas Pike (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 4, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1974, pp. 20-22. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050025b.htm. Details
• Murray-Smith, S., 'Kernot, Wilfred Noyce (1868-1945)', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1983, pp. 573-574. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090573b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Corbett, A. H., 'Kernot. The Man among his Students', University of Melbourne Gazette, vol. 8, 1962, pp. 2-5. Details
• Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, '150 Years, 150 Stories: William Charles Kernot', Uni News, vol. 11, no. 25, 2002, p. 4. Details
• Kernot, W.C., 'Some Notes on the Storage of Electricity and Faure's Form of Plante's Secondary Battery', Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 18, Wilson & Mackinnon, Melbourne, 1882, p. 47. Details

Online Resources

• 'Kernot, William Charles', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P000538p.htm. Details
• National Library of Australia, 'Kernot, W C', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-613046. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/scripts/tia-dynindex.php3?EID=P000538. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/scripts/smv-dynindex.php3?EID=P000538. Details
• Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, 150 years, 150 stories: brief biographies of one hundred and fifty remarkable people associated with the University of Melbourne, Department of History, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2003, 168 pp. Details
• Wisdom, John, A History of Defence Science in Australia, Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Melbourne, 1995, 267 pp. Details