Spooner, Edgar Clynton Ross (1908 - 1976)

Summary

Edgar Spooner was a chemical engineer and metallurgist who went on to become an educator in these fields. He held a number of positions in the mining industry in the United Kingdom between 1930 and 1947 before being appointed Professor of Mining and Metallurgy and Director of Bonython Laboratories at the University of Adelaide (1947-1962). While at the University of Adelaide he facilitated the establishment of the Faculty of Technology (1957) and was its first Dean. Spooner was a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and served as the South Australia Branch President 1954-1955.

Details

He was also: Fellow, Institution of Chemical Engineers; and Fellow, Institution of Management , Australia. His CV notes that he published 30 significant scientific and general papers and one book: O. Gatty and E.C.R. Spooner, The Electrode Potential Behaviour of Corroding Metals in Aqueous Solutions, Oxford, Clarendon Press: London: Oxford University Press 1938; and registered four patents.

Chronology

c. 1913 - c. 1924

Education - Schooling at the Albuera Street State School and the Hutchins School, Hobart

1924

Award - Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Scholarship

c. 1925 - c. 1929

Career position - Occasional junior assistant, Research Department, Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australasia Ltd, Risdon Tasmania

1928

Career position - Appointed part-time demonstrator in mechanical engineering, Hobart Technical College; later evening lecturer to the advanced class of engineering science, hydraulics and applied mechanics

1929

Education - BSc, University of Tasmania

1930

Education - BE, University of Tasmania

c. 1930

Career position - Researcher with Professor A. McAulay, Universityof Tasmania, with a grant from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

1931

Award - Rhodes Scholar, University of Oxford, UK

1934?

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil), Oxford University

1935 - 1938

Career position - Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australasia Ltd, Risdon Tasmania

1938 - 1944

Career position - Technical Superintendent, Works Manager and Assistant General Manager, Magnesium Metal Corporation Ltd, Wales, United Kindom

1945 - 1947

Career position - Consultant and Director of Research, S.G. Warburg & Co. London and Sutcliffe, Speakman & Co. Leigh, England

1947

Career event - Returns to Australia after employment in Wales, UK

1948 - 1962

Career position - Professor of Mining, Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, South Australia

1951

Award - Nuffield Fellow

1954

Career event - Colombo Plan Advisor, Ceylon Government

1954 - 1955

Career position - President, South Australian Branch, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1957

Career position - Appointed Dean, Faculty of Technology, University of Adelaide, South Australia

1957

Career event - Established the Faculty of Technology, University of Adelaide, South Australia

1963 - 1972

Career position - Consulting Engineer and Company Director, Davy-Ashmore Pty Ltd

1969 - 1970

Career event - United Nations International Labor Organisatin advisor to the Indian Government

1971

Career event - United Nations International Development Association expert, Iran

1972

Career event - International Bank for Reconstruction and Development expert, Mexico and Brazil

1973 - 1974

Career position - Director, Pilbara Study Group, Commonwealth and Western Australia Governments

1974 - 1976

Career position - Metallurgical and Chemical Engineering Consutlant, Company Director, Davy-Ashmore Pty Ltd

1975

Career event - International Bank for Reconstruction and Development expert, Jordon

Related entries

Published resources

Edited Books

• Cumming, D. A.; Moxham, G. C. ed., They built South Australia : engineers, technicians, manufacturers, contractors and their work (Adelaide: D.A. Cumming and G.C Moxham, 1986), 241 pp. "Spooner, Edgar Clynton Ross. DPhil(Oxon), BE(Tas), MIChemE, FIM, FRACI, MAusIMM (1908-1976)" pp.177-8 (incl. portrait). Details

Resources

• 'Spooner, Edgar Clynton Ross (1908-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1473445. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Spooner, Edgar Clynton Ross', 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/P001811p.htm. Details

Reviews

• Review of: The Electrode Potential Behaviour of Corroding Metals in Aqueous Solutions (1938) By 0. Gatty and Dr. E. C. R. Spooner.
  Anon (A.J.G.), 'Electrode Potentials', Nature, 3617, (1939), 315, https://www.nature.com/articles/143315b0.pdf. Details