Biographical entry Gepp, Herbert William (1877 - 1954)

Summary

(Sir) Herbert William Gepp helped solve the great metallurgical problems of the mining industry in the 1900s and was an apostle of the role of science in industry, government and the economy. He helped establish CSIR and the RACI and promoted enlightened labour policies in industry.

Details

Born Adelaide, 28 September 1877. Died 14 April 1954. Kt 1933. Educated University of Melbourne. Junior chemist, Australian Explosives & Chemical Company, Melbourne (soon taken over by Nobel's Explosive Company of Glasgow, Scotland) 1893-1905, Nobel Company, Glasgow 1897-98, Chemist, Zinc Corporation Limited, Broken Hill 1905-06, Manager, de Bavay's Treatment Company Limited 1907-14, selling zinc concentrates and investigating the manufacture of munitions in the USA, on behalf of the Australian government 1915-17, General manager, Electrolytic Zinc company 1917-26, chairman, Commonwealth Development & Migration Commission 1926-30, Government consultant (part-time) 1930-36, technical consultant to Australian Paper Manufacturers Ltd 1931-36, Director, North Australia Aerial, Geological & Geophysical Survey 1934-36, General manager, Australian Paper Manufacturers Limited 1936-50. Gold medal, London parent institution of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. President, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 1924, President, Society of Chemical Industry of Victoria 1950.

Related entries

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Charles Denton Kemp - Records, 1963 - 1964, MS 1548; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• Herbert William Gepp - Records, 1904 - 1949, MS 390; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Kennedey, B. E., 'Gepp, Sir Herbert William (1877-1954)', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 8, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1981, pp. 640-642. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080656b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• 'Gepp, Herbert William', 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/P001572p.htm. Details
• 'Gepp, Herbert', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-635387. Details

See also

• Rees, A. L. G., 'Ian William Wark 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 6, no. 4, 1987, pp. 533-548. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9870640533.htm. Details