Corporate Body

CSIR/O Division of Industrial Chemistry (1940 - 1958)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

From
1 July 1940
Fisherman's Bend, Victoria, Australia
To
8 October 1958
Functions
Industrial or scientific research
Reference No
CA 7689
Legal Status
Agency of the Commonwealth of Australia
Location
Fisherman's Bend, Victoria

Summary

Existing from 1940 to 1958, the CSIR/O Division of Industrial Chemistry traversed the transition of CSIR to CSIRO in 1949. In 1958, with the formation of the CSIRO Chemical Research Laboratories, it was divided into the: CSIRO Cement and Ceramic Section (1958); CSIRO Organic Chemistry Section (1958); CSIRO Chemical Engineering Section (1958); CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics (1958); CSIRO Division Physical Chemistry (1958); and CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry (1959).

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Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf page 58:
"The main centre of chemical research is at Fishermen's Bend, Victoria, where C.S.I.R.O. has established its Chemical Research Laboratories. The Laboratories were formed in 1940, following the report of a committee which recommended the expansion of C.S.I.R. research into fields of importance to secondary industry. The group was originally called the Division of Industrial Chemistry, but was re-organized in 1958 and styled the Chemical Research Laboratories, with Divisions of Chemical Physics, Mineral Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, together with Sections of Cement and Refractories and Chemical Engineering. There are also two smaller groups which offer useful services to industry; these are a Microanalytical Laboratory situated at the University of Melbourne, which performs analyses of organic compounds for government, university and industrial laboratories, and, situated at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, a Foundry Sands Laboratory which offers an advisory service to foundries. The interests of the Laboratories have not been limited to fields of importance to secondary industry; much of the work bears directly on primary industry.

The research activities of the Division of Industrial Chemistry began in a few rooms of the Chemistry department of the University of Melbourne. The first Chief was Dr. I. W. Wark (now a member of the C.S.I.R.O. Executive), a physical chemist noted for his important contributions to our knowledge of the separation of minerals from ores by "flotation" processes.

The Division moved into its own new premises in 1941. During the war years much of the Division's time was spent on the immediate problems imposed by the war, but a number of lines of fundamental work were established and these were carried on and expanded after 1945. It was necessary to study means of extracting uncommon metal derivatives from our minerals. Titanium tetrachloride, for example, was needed for smokescreens and cerium oxide was needed as a polishing powder for optical lenses. The Division worked on a host of chemical problems, including the construction of laminated aircraft propellers, prevention of "crazing" of plastic aircraft windows, concentration and drying of foodstuffs, the preservation of leather boots in hot and humid climates, and many more.

When the war was over, the Division settled down to develop the lines of fundamental work established during the war, and to start new lines of work."

Chronology

9 October 1958
Operational event - Transformed into the CSIRO Chemical Research Laboratories and the division into multiple CSIRO divisions and sections

Timeline

 1940 - 1958 CSIR/O Division of Industrial Chemistry
       1958 - 1970 Chemical Research Laboratories - CSIRO

Related People

Published resources

Books

Journal Articles

Resources

Resource Sections

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/index_c.html. Details
  • Hannaford, Peter, 'Walsh, Alan' in New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Koertge, Noretta, ed., vol. 7 (Detroit : Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008), pp. 228-233 . Details
  • Spurling, Tom, 'Donald (Don) Willis: Distinguished CSIRO Scientist', Chemistry in Australia, 2013 (July) (2013), 28. Details
  • Willis, J. B., 'Wark, Sir Ian William (1899-1985), chemist and scientific administrator' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2012), pp. 558-9. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wark-sir-ian-william-15853. Details

Ailie Smith

Created: 15 June 2000, Last modified: 2 May 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/A000578b.htm

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