National Standards Laboratory - CSIR/O (1939 - 1973)

Summary

The CSIR/O National Standards Laboratory (NSL) was established in 1939. The Laboratory consisted of three Sections; Electrotechnology, Metrology and Physics. The Laboratory continued to operate after its Sections became Divisions, in 1945. The NSL traversed the transition of CISR to CSIRO in 1949.

Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf page 48:
"For many years after the foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia, the States continued to be the custodians of their legal standards of weights and measures.

The establishment of a National Standards Laboratory was first advocated in 1912 by Sir John Madsen, who was then Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Unjversity of Sydney. But it was not until 1937 that the report of a Secondary Industries Testing Research Advisory Committee (of which Sir John was a member) led to the setting up of a National Standards Laboratory within C.S.I.R. It was decided that the Laboratory should consist of the Section of Metrology, Physics, and Electrotechnology.

In 1938 leaders of the three groups were chosen. Mr. N. A. Esserman (later the first Director of the Laboratory) came from the Munitions Supply Laboratory to take charge of Metrology, and two Sydney University men, Dr. . H. Briggs and Dr. D. M. Myers, were appointed Officers-in-Charge or the Physics and Electrotechnology Sections. A year later, construction of the Laboratory began in the grounds or the University of Sydney.

When the war broke out in 1939, the three Officers-in-Charge were overseas, where they had been looking at standards research and seeking standards equipment. Fortunately, some equipment was obtained, and when the Officer -in-Charge returned from oversea it was po sible for the Laboratory to commence functioning and devote its entire effort to defence work."

"After the war, the Sections were raised to Divisional status, and for the first time the Laboratory was able to concentrate on its original objectives. In 1948 the Commonwealth Government passed a Weights and Measures (National Standards) Act which made the Laboratory, on behalf of C.S.I.R.O. the custodian of the legal standards of the Commonwealth."

From the CSIRO "Historical Directory . . ." (1978), page 61:
"A Committee of Inquiry was held in 1957 and N.A. Esserman became Director of the National Standards Laboratory in 1958, The divisional structure was retained, and this arrangement continued until Esserman's retirement in 1961.

The Divisions of Electrotechnology and Metrology were then amalgamated to form the Division of Applied Physics, with F.J. Lehany as Chief. The NSL Committee was formed, consisting of the Chiefs of Physics and Applied Physics, and was responsible for general policy concerning the Laboratory as a whole. Lehany was Chairman of the NSL Committee.

The National Standards Laboratory became the National Measurement Laboratory on 1 July 1974 with the amalgamation of the two Divisions of Physics and Applied Physics. "

Related entries

Timeline

 1939 - 1973 National Standards Laboratory - CSIR/O
       1974 - 1979 National Measurement Laboratory - CSIRO
             1979 - 1996 CSIRO Division of Applied Physics [II]
                   1996 - CSIRO Division of Telecommunications and Industrial Physics

Published resources

Books

• CSIRO, CSIRO research for Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Canberra: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, 1962), 64 pp, https://www.eoas.info/bib-pdf/ASBS15940.pdf. pdf pages 30-31, 48-51. Details
• Schedvin, C.B; Trace, K., Historical Directory of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, 1926-1976 (Canberra: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/csiro_historical_directory_1926_1976.pdf. Page 61. Details
• Wright, J.F.H., Measurement in Australia, 1938-1988: a History of Australia's National Standards Laboratory (Sydney: CSIRO, Division of Applied Physics, 1998), 142 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Home, R. W., 'Science on Service' in Australian Science in the Making, R. W. Home, ed. (Sydney: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 220-251. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-593572. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Primary description of agency CA 4377; CSIRO, Division of Applied Physics. Registration of entity: 23 September 1987', in RecordSearch, National Archives of Australia, 2000, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?Number=CA%204377. 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/index_c.html. Details