DSIR logo in the 1980s and 1990s | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1926 (1926) |
Preceding agencies | |
Dissolved | 1 April 1992 (1992-04-01) |
Superseding agency |
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Employees | 2,000 in 1976 |
Minister responsible |
The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) was a government science agency in New Zealand, founded in 1926 and broken into Crown Research Institutes in 1992.
Foundation
DSIR was founded in 1926 by Ernest Marsden after calls from Ernest Rutherford for government to support education and research and on the back of the Imperial Economic Conference in London in October and November 1923, when various colonies discussed setting up such departments. It initially received funding from sources such as the Empire Marketing Board. The initial plans also included a new agricultural college, to be jointly founded by Auckland and Victoria University Colleges, Palmerston North was chosen as the site for this and it grew to become Massey University.
Structure
DSIR initially had five divisions:
- Grasslands in Palmerston North
- Plant Diseases in Auckland
- Entomology, attached to the Cawthron Institute in Nelson
- Soil Survey (later Soil Bureau) in Taita
- Agronomy (later Crop Research Division) in Lincoln
- Geophysics Division from 1951
The later Antarctic Division became Antarctica New Zealand in 1996.
The Grasslands Division originally included the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute, which became the Fonterra Research and Development Centre in 2001.
List of directors-general
The following is a list of Directors-General (Chief Executive) of DSIR:
- Ernest Marsden - 1926 to 1947
- Frank Callaghan - 1947 to 1953
- Bill Hamilton - 1953 to 1971
- Eddie Robertson - 1971 to 1980
- Bruce Miller - 1980 to 1984
- Jim Ellis - 1984 to 1989
- Mike Collins - 1989 to 1994
Dissolution
Reconstituted into initially 10 semi-independent entities called Crown Research Institutes by the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, with some further consolidation since.
See also
Further reading
- Galbreath, Ross (1998). DSIR: Making Science Work for New Zealand: Themes from the History of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1926–1992. Wellington : Victoria University Press. ISBN 0864733542. OCLC 44633299.
References
- ^ Nathan, Simon (6 October 2014). "Research institutions – Developing research organisations". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
- Brewerton, Emma (15 December 2014). "Ernest Rutherford". Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
- "AtoJs Online – Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives – 1924 Session I – A-06a IMPERIAL ECONOMIC CONFERENCE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF GREAT BRITAIN, THE DOMINIONS, INDIA, AND THE COLO... [truncated]". Atojs.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- "Sheep-raising poster from 1927 | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". Nzhistory.net.nz. 23 December 2013. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- "AtoJs Online – Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives – 1926 Session I – H-27 ORGANIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH IN NEW ZEALAND (STATEMENT BY THE RIGHT HON. THE P... [truncated]". Atojs.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- "3. DSIR research – Agricultural and horticultural research – Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand". Teara.govt.nz. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- "Our History / About Us / Home – GNS Science". Gns.cri.nz. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- "Giant of Antarctica saved Scott Base". Stuff (Fairfax). 18 February 2009.
- Hill, Jeremy (2003). "The Fonterra Research Centre". International Journal of Dairy Technology. 56 (3): 127–132. doi:10.1046/j.1471-0307.2003.00111.x.
- Galbreath 1998.
- "Crown Research Institutes Act 1992". legislation.govt.nz. 15 June 1992. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
External links
- Department of Scientific and Industrial Research entry in the 1966 edition of the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
Recipients of the Rutherford Medal of the Royal Society of New Zealand | |
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New Zealand Science and Technology Gold Medal |
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Rutherford Medal |
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Science and research in New Zealand | |||||||||||||||
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