Victoria’s government botanist and, at the time, Director of the Botanic Garden, Ferdinand von Mueller had a strong interest in the possible industrial and medicinal uses of plant products (economic botany), for which he established a phytochemical laboratory and engaged the services of qualified chemists to conduct experiments on wood distillation, paper-making, essential oils, alkaloids, ash of woods and seaweeds, dyes and tanning materials, and the strength of Australian timbers. The careers of Mueller’s laboratory chemists, George Christian Hoffmann, Ludwig Rummel, and Johann Georg Luehmann, and their interactions with other members of the colonial science and technology community are also described in this article.
维多利亚州政府植物学家、当时的植物园园长Ferdinand von Mueller对植物产品可能的工业和医学用途(经济植物学)有着浓厚的兴趣,为此他建立了一个植物化学实验室,并聘请了合格的化学家进行木材蒸馏、造纸、精油、生物碱,木材和海藻的灰烬、染料和制革材料,以及澳大利亚木材的强度。本文还描述了穆勒实验室化学家乔治·克里斯蒂安·霍夫曼、路德维希·隆美尔和约翰·格奥尔格·吕曼的职业生涯,以及他们与殖民地科技界其他成员的互动。
{"title":"Ferdinand von Mueller’s phytochemical laboratory","authors":"I. D. Rae, S. Maroske","doi":"10.1071/hr19010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/hr19010","url":null,"abstract":"Victoria’s government botanist and, at the time, Director of the Botanic Garden, Ferdinand von Mueller had a strong interest in the possible industrial and medicinal uses of plant products (economic botany), for which he established a phytochemical laboratory and engaged the services of qualified chemists to conduct experiments on wood distillation, paper-making, essential oils, alkaloids, ash of woods and seaweeds, dyes and tanning materials, and the strength of Australian timbers. The careers of Mueller’s laboratory chemists, George Christian Hoffmann, Ludwig Rummel, and Johann Georg Luehmann, and their interactions with other members of the colonial science and technology community are also described in this article.","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":"31 1","pages":"26-38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49061006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Max Day (1915–2017) entomologist, scientific diplomat and conservationist, was a national scientific leader across the twentieth century, a time that spanned the rise of the idea of the environment and of concern about ecological limits. He was a pioneer in Australia of integrated, cross-disciplinary science and an important advocate of evidence-based policy-making. His fundamental disciplinary work in entomology, virology, ecology and forestry focused on nationally significant problems and their international context.
{"title":"Maxwell Frank Cooper Day 1915–2017","authors":"L. Robin, John C. Day","doi":"10.1071/hr19007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/hr19007","url":null,"abstract":"Max Day (1915–2017) entomologist, scientific diplomat and conservationist, was a national scientific leader across the twentieth century, a time that spanned the rise of the idea of the environment and of concern about ecological limits. He was a pioneer in Australia of integrated, cross-disciplinary science and an important advocate of evidence-based policy-making. His fundamental disciplinary work in entomology, virology, ecology and forestry focused on nationally significant problems and their international context.","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":"31 1","pages":"39-53"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49553310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The increased engagement of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) with Australian industry from the early 1980s to the late 1990s marks it as an unusual era for CSIRO. The reasons lie in CSIRO’s response to the economic and political background of the time and to government moves to reinvigorate the industrial sector. By the end of the century, external pressures for industry engagement had receded as macroeconomic conditions improved and Australian industry diversified. The engagement can be seen in the growth of direct contacts between CSIRO and research users and Australian companies that occurred across the organisation. This paper analyses CSIRO’s technology transfer policies and practices within an economic and political context and addresses two questions: why did the organisation’s approach to technology transfer change and how? We look at three mini-eras in the 1980s and 1990s and draw out major changes in technology transfer during these two decades.
{"title":"Engaging with Australian industry: CSIRO in the late twentieth century","authors":"Garrett Upstill, T. Spurling","doi":"10.1071/hr19006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/hr19006","url":null,"abstract":"The increased engagement of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) with Australian industry from the early 1980s to the late 1990s marks it as an unusual era for CSIRO. The reasons lie in CSIRO’s response to the economic and political background of the time and to government moves to reinvigorate the industrial sector. By the end of the century, external pressures for industry engagement had receded as macroeconomic conditions improved and Australian industry diversified. The engagement can be seen in the growth of direct contacts between CSIRO and research users and Australian companies that occurred across the organisation. This paper analyses CSIRO’s technology transfer policies and practices within an economic and political context and addresses two questions: why did the organisation’s approach to technology transfer change and how? We look at three mini-eras in the 1980s and 1990s and draw out major changes in technology transfer during these two decades.","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":"31 1","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42007823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ralph Slatyer (16 April 1929–26 July 2012) had a distinguished career in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Australian National University, in plant-water relations and plant succession, leading the development of physiological plant ecology. He was the founding Professor of Environmental Biology at the Research School of Biological Sciences, at the Australian National University and then Director of the Research School of Biological Sciences, 1984–9. He was Australian Ambassador to United Nations Educational and Scientific Cultural Organisation (1978–81), and as Australia’s first Chief Scientist (1989–92), he set up the Cooperative Research Centres.
Ralph Slatyer(1929年4月16日至2012年7月26日)在英联邦科学与工业研究组织和澳大利亚国立大学的植物-水关系和植物演替方面有着杰出的职业生涯,领导了植物生理生态学的发展。他是澳大利亚国立大学生物科学研究院环境生物学的创始教授,1984年至2009年担任生物科学研究学院院长。他曾任澳大利亚驻联合国教育和科学文化组织大使(1978–81),并作为澳大利亚首位首席科学家(1989–92)成立了合作研究中心。
{"title":"Ralph Owen Slatyer 1929–2012","authors":"G. Farquhar","doi":"10.1071/hr19009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/hr19009","url":null,"abstract":"Ralph Slatyer (16 April 1929–26 July 2012) had a distinguished career in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Australian National University, in plant-water relations and plant succession, leading the development of physiological plant ecology. He was the founding Professor of Environmental Biology at the Research School of Biological Sciences, at the Australian National University and then Director of the Research School of Biological Sciences, 1984–9. He was Australian Ambassador to United Nations Educational and Scientific Cultural Organisation (1978–81), and as Australia’s first Chief Scientist (1989–92), he set up the Cooperative Research Centres.","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":"31 1","pages":"54-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1071/hr19009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49258360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bibliography of the History of Australian Science, No. 40, 2018/9","authors":"Compiled by Helen M. Cohn","doi":"10.1071/hr20901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/hr20901","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":"31 1","pages":"71-86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59255578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Annual Author Index","authors":"N. K. Prasanna","doi":"10.1071/hrauth2019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/hrauth2019","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43148710","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Warning Readers of this article are warned that it may contain terms, descriptions and opinions that are culturally sensitive and/or offensive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Silesian traveller-naturalist Lothar Becker’s two visits to Victoria in 1849–52 and 1855–65 brought him into contact with Aboriginal people living in Western Victoria, Melbourne, the Murray River at Albury, and Gippsland. His travels took him to areas now recognised as the traditional lands of the Gunaikurnai, Wathaurung, Wiradjuri and Wurundjeri peoples. Becker’s publications include scattered observations on Aboriginal appearance, lifeways, diet, skills, and beliefs. Although these observations were limited by his inability to speak any Aboriginal languages and coloured by his assumptions about the inferiority of Aboriginal culture, they nevertheless document small but significant fragments of what has recently been termed ‘Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge’.
{"title":"Lothar Becker’s contributions to anthropology","authors":"H. Howes","doi":"10.1071/HR19004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/HR19004","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Warning\u0000Readers of this article are warned that it may contain terms, descriptions and opinions that are culturally sensitive and/or offensive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. \u0000Silesian traveller-naturalist Lothar Becker’s two visits to Victoria in 1849–52 and 1855–65 brought him into contact with Aboriginal people living in Western Victoria, Melbourne, the Murray River at Albury, and Gippsland. His travels took him to areas now recognised as the traditional lands of the Gunaikurnai, Wathaurung, Wiradjuri and Wurundjeri peoples. Becker’s publications include scattered observations on Aboriginal appearance, lifeways, diet, skills, and beliefs. Although these observations were limited by his inability to speak any Aboriginal languages and coloured by his assumptions about the inferiority of Aboriginal culture, they nevertheless document small but significant fragments of what has recently been termed ‘Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge’.\u0000","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45872124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Warning Readers of this article are warned that it may contain terms, descriptions and opinions that are culturally sensitive and/or offensive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Lothar Becker (1825–1901?), an unpretentious Silesian naturalist, twice visited the colony of Victoria and published rich and original observations on its natural history and Indigenous people on his return to Germany. On his first visit, 1849 to 1852, Becker recorded his encounter with Black Thursday, a devastating bushfire, its aftermath, and the, by then, still relatively uncleared landscape. He also related his experiences living for a time with an Indigenous family in the Omeo district. After adding to his store of natural history observations on a second visit, 1855 to 1865, Becker tried to make money from writing articles on diverse Australian topics such as ant nests, the sequence and timing of flowering, the distribution of weeds, the natural history of fungi and the world history of tobacco, in all but the latter characterised by a remarkable proto-ecological approach. Becker’s publications have been overlooked by subsequent scientific researchers, in part because he wrote for the popular press, and because his language was German. The life and work of Lothar Becker is introduced here for the first time, and translations provided of six of his articles on Victorian natural history, botany, mycology, horticulture, and anthropology. Reflections on Becker’s contribution to anthropology and to mycology are published in two associated articles by Howes, and May and Darragh.
{"title":"Lothar Becker: a German naturalist in Victoria, 1849–52, 1855–65","authors":"T. A. Darragh","doi":"10.1071/HR18020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/HR18020","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Warning\u0000Readers of this article are warned that it may contain terms, descriptions and opinions that are culturally sensitive and/or offensive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.\u0000Lothar Becker (1825–1901?), an unpretentious Silesian naturalist, twice visited the colony of Victoria and published rich and original observations on its natural history and Indigenous people on his return to Germany. On his first visit, 1849 to 1852, Becker recorded his encounter with Black Thursday, a devastating bushfire, its aftermath, and the, by then, still relatively uncleared landscape. He also related his experiences living for a time with an Indigenous family in the Omeo district. After adding to his store of natural history observations on a second visit, 1855 to 1865, Becker tried to make money from writing articles on diverse Australian topics such as ant nests, the sequence and timing of flowering, the distribution of weeds, the natural history of fungi and the world history of tobacco, in all but the latter characterised by a remarkable proto-ecological approach. Becker’s publications have been overlooked by subsequent scientific researchers, in part because he wrote for the popular press, and because his language was German. The life and work of Lothar Becker is introduced here for the first time, and translations provided of six of his articles on Victorian natural history, botany, mycology, horticulture, and anthropology. Reflections on Becker’s contribution to anthropology and to mycology are published in two associated articles by Howes, and May and Darragh.\u0000","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41951109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Warning Readers of this article are warned that it may contain terms, descriptions and opinions that are culturally sensitive and/or offensive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Silesian-born Lothar Becker spent two periods in Australia, during which he made observations on a range of natural history topics, including fungi—a group of organisms rarely noticed by contemporary naturalists. Becker compiled notes, sketches and collections of Australian fungi that he sent to Elias Fries in Sweden for identification. Unfortunately, this material has not survived, but Becker’s accounts of his time in Australia, especially that published in Das Ausland in 1873, contain remarkable first-hand observations, including some on exotic fungi. Becker’s article is one of the earliest stand-alone analyses of the affinities of the Australian mycota. Remarks on the use of fungi by Aboriginal peoples of south-eastern Australia are particularly significant, due to inclusion of a word presumed to be from Aboriginal language and the suggestion of gendered roles in the collection of edible fungi.
{"title":"The significance of mycological contributions by Lothar Becker","authors":"T. May, T. A. Darragh","doi":"10.1071/HR19005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/HR19005","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Warning\u0000Readers of this article are warned that it may contain terms, descriptions and opinions that are culturally sensitive and/or offensive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. \u0000Silesian-born Lothar Becker spent two periods in Australia, during which he made observations on a range of natural history topics, including fungi—a group of organisms rarely noticed by contemporary naturalists. Becker compiled notes, sketches and collections of Australian fungi that he sent to Elias Fries in Sweden for identification. Unfortunately, this material has not survived, but Becker’s accounts of his time in Australia, especially that published in Das Ausland in 1873, contain remarkable first-hand observations, including some on exotic fungi. Becker’s article is one of the earliest stand-alone analyses of the affinities of the Australian mycota. Remarks on the use of fungi by Aboriginal peoples of south-eastern Australia are particularly significant, due to inclusion of a word presumed to be from Aboriginal language and the suggestion of gendered roles in the collection of edible fungi.\u0000","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48882121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley disliked the word ‘seaweed’, and objected every time it was spoken in his presence. To him algae were not ‘weeds’ but beautiful organisms, well worthy of making the subject of a lifetime of scientific study. As was common in the middle of the twentieth century, Womersley did not begin his career as a phycologist, but rather found himself specialising in this life form after discovering how richly represented and little known it was along the coast of southern Australia. In his seventy-year association with the University of Adelaide, Bryan transformed the study of phycology in Australia, attracting a pool of talented students to contribute to his grand project of a marine benthic flora of southern Australia, and to carry the study of algae forward into the next generation. Being a pioneer in the field gave him opportunities for ground-breaking research and an overview of the discipline as it developed, positioning him as the leading expert on Australian algae in the international phycological community.
{"title":"Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley 1922–2011","authors":"S. Maroske","doi":"10.1071/HR19003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1071/HR19003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley disliked the word ‘seaweed’, and objected every time it was spoken in his presence. To him algae were not ‘weeds’ but beautiful organisms, well worthy of making the subject of a lifetime of scientific study. As was common in the middle of the twentieth century, Womersley did not begin his career as a phycologist, but rather found himself specialising in this life form after discovering how richly represented and little known it was along the coast of southern Australia. In his seventy-year association with the University of Adelaide, Bryan transformed the study of phycology in Australia, attracting a pool of talented students to contribute to his grand project of a marine benthic flora of southern Australia, and to carry the study of algae forward into the next generation. Being a pioneer in the field gave him opportunities for ground-breaking research and an overview of the discipline as it developed, positioning him as the leading expert on Australian algae in the international phycological community.\u0000","PeriodicalId":51246,"journal":{"name":"Historical Records of Australian Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42496168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}