{"title":"Dr W.R. (Bill) Blevin 1929–2022","authors":"B. D. Inglis","doi":"10.1071/hr24016","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>William Roderick (Bill) Blevin graduated from the University of New England (UNE) with First Class Honours in science in 1950, completed a Diploma of Education in 1951 and a Master of Science degree in 1952. He joined the CSIRO Division of Physics in 1953 as a research scientist and became the leader of the Optical Radiometry and Pyrometry Group. In 1972, he was awarded a DSc from the University of New England and in 1976 became a chief research scientist within CSIRO. In 1988, he was appointed chief of the CSIRO Division of Applied Physics. For much of his distinguished research career his focus was on improving measurement standards for optical radiometry and photometric measurement. Among his many achievements was an independent experimental determination of the Stefan–Boltzmann constant which advanced the accuracy of agreement with theoretical determinations by more than an order of magnitude. His work on the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and his determination in the face of international opposition eventually led to the redefinition of the candela, the SI (International System) unit for light intensity, in terms of the unit for power. His work was widely recognised internationally and brought great credit to CSIRO as well as gaining great respect for metrology in Australia. Bill served as president of the International Consultative Committee for Photometry and Radiometry (CCPR) for some twelve years and served as a member, secretary and vice-president of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM). He received many awards and honours throughout his illustrious career, including recognition as a Member of the Order of Australia.</p>","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Historical Records of Australian Science","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1071/hr24016","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
William Roderick (Bill) Blevin graduated from the University of New England (UNE) with First Class Honours in science in 1950, completed a Diploma of Education in 1951 and a Master of Science degree in 1952. He joined the CSIRO Division of Physics in 1953 as a research scientist and became the leader of the Optical Radiometry and Pyrometry Group. In 1972, he was awarded a DSc from the University of New England and in 1976 became a chief research scientist within CSIRO. In 1988, he was appointed chief of the CSIRO Division of Applied Physics. For much of his distinguished research career his focus was on improving measurement standards for optical radiometry and photometric measurement. Among his many achievements was an independent experimental determination of the Stefan–Boltzmann constant which advanced the accuracy of agreement with theoretical determinations by more than an order of magnitude. His work on the Stefan–Boltzmann constant and his determination in the face of international opposition eventually led to the redefinition of the candela, the SI (International System) unit for light intensity, in terms of the unit for power. His work was widely recognised internationally and brought great credit to CSIRO as well as gaining great respect for metrology in Australia. Bill served as president of the International Consultative Committee for Photometry and Radiometry (CCPR) for some twelve years and served as a member, secretary and vice-president of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM). He received many awards and honours throughout his illustrious career, including recognition as a Member of the Order of Australia.
期刊介绍:
Historical Records of Australian Science is a bi-annual journal that publishes two kinds of unsolicited manuscripts relating to the history of science, pure and applied, in Australia, New Zealand and the southwest Pacific.
Historical Articles–original scholarly pieces of peer-reviewed research
Historical Documents–either hitherto unpublished or obscurely published primary sources, along with a peer-reviewed scholarly introduction.
The first issue of the journal (under the title Records of the Australian Academy of Science), appeared in 1966, and the current name was adopted in 1980.