SIR GEORGE JULIUS RETIRES FROM C.S.I.R.

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24768, 8 January 1946, Page 4

SIR GEORGE JULIUS RETIRES FROM C.S.I.R.

RE SEA RCH IN AUSTRALIA

nl the “Sydney Morning Herald.”] [By a Staff Correspondent of me y (Published by Arrangement.) j with soecial interest the occasion of Christchurch waders will no te 31) ol sir George Julius this article, xn the re tP^ l ? e nt (° tra lian Council of Scientific and Infrom the. chairmanship of the Austranan v. positionj he he i d it dustrial Research. The firet to be w Q for nearly 20 years. Another rbury College, is now assistant formerly

Unless Australia det T r !Vi ne L t n r Xn’t in such new and vitally important scientific fields as atomic jet propulsion, she will not her national development and s “uiity. but lose the most active and capable of her scientists, who will go elsewhere in search of opportunity. aporee This is the belief of Sir George Julius, first chairman of the Commonwealth Council for Seientific and Im dustrial Research, who is retiring after 20 years’ occupancy of that office. Son of the late Archbishop Julius, former Primate of New Zealand, son and great-grandson of to the Court of St. James, Sir George was born at Norwich, England, 72 years ago, educated at Melbourne and m New Zealand, he graduated m science and engineering, and became a ' ing engineer; he invented totalisator. assumed leadership of the National Research CouncjJ and the Standards Association, and became chairman of the C.S.I.R. when was established by the Bruce Government in 1926. x _ Sir George does not .Plan . a leisurely retirement. He is still Partner in the firm of consulting engineers that he founded; he is a director of Imperial Chemical Industries, and will discharge “other tasks of business and for his spare time there is his splendidly equipped home workshop where his father, the Archbishops, treadle lathe still stands among an array of precise and gleaming instruments that almost shout modernity. He is a skilled maker of working models, and one suspects that his greatest—and perhaps his only—personal pride is m the work of his hands. . “We must provide for research in atomic energy,” he declared. ‘Tt is not merely necessary that we be nationally up-to-date; we must realise fully the importance and immensity of develop"ments in nuclear physics. May Lose Scientists “Our best scientists are already eager to be off so they may get to the places where investigation goes on. We will lose them if we do npt resolve to play our part, and soon. It is the same with jet propulsion. We know it may revolutionise aviation, we have already seen what jet-propelled aircraft can do. We must take up the research involved if we are to be prepared for the intelligent use of this'new principle. These matter? do not represent merely a phase of national development—they are of vital concern to our defence, though heaven forbid we should ever again be at war.” . Sir George realises that work in such branches would be costly, and that it will pose great problems for the Government. . “But we are urging it,” he says. “Otherwise we will lose our scientists. In the past it was difficult to get worthwhile men to take up sciences apart .from those associated with the great professions, such as medicine, law, and engineering. Physics, botany, entomology, and so on made little appeal, for they offered few and sparse rewards. Now, the promise is greater, and more men are turning to these formerly unpopular branches. We must continue to increase the field of opportunity for such men, not limit it.” When Sir George became chairman of the C.S.I.R. at the invitation of Mr Bruce, he asked that the ■ organisation be completely free, not only of political interference, but of Government departmental processes. Mr Bruce gave his assurances of such freedom, which, Sir George declares, have been honoured by every Government. ’ Modest Beginnings He first chose as his colleague on the council Dr. (now Sir) David Rivett, at the time Professor of Chemistry at Melbourne University (Sir David will sdcceed Sir George Julius as chairman of the council), and Mr W. J. Newbigin, a representative of a famous English firm of engineers. Mr Newbigin died a year later and was succeeded on the council by Dr. A. E. V. Richardson, then Director of the Waite Institute, Adelaide. The new chairman’s first worry was what was required of him. As an engineer, he was somewhat modest about his accomplishments as a scientist. Others were, too.

An irate Adelaide professor, waiting on the Prime Minister to discover why Cabinet had turned down his request

that certain investigations be made by the council, was told that it had been rejected on the councillors’ expert adV 1 “Expert!!” shouted the angry, but eminent, professor, liquidating in one verbal sweep Sir George and Mr Newbigin, the engineers, and Dr. David Rivett, the chemist, “Expert! Two ruddy plumbers and a pillroller! 1 ’ The council was granted £250,000 to “flo” for four or five years. Later, the Government provided £lOO,OOO for investment to be used in training research students overseas—“these recruits, selected from University graduates and diploma-holders of technical colleges, have been the best men we have received into the work: the investment by the Government in such training was to establish a great national asset,” Sir George comments—and in no Parliament was a single vioce ever raised against any measure designed to promote or stimulate the council’s work. “That is a proud record,” says Sir George. The council resolved to concentrate at first on the problems of the primary producer, and found plenty of problems to occupiy its organisation. Five divisions of study were begun: plant problems, animal health, soil study, and so on. The study of the land was especially important—previously, no one had given much heed to such things as how soil in . areas selected for settlement would react to irrigation, or whether there was a suitable market for the produce of that soil. Men were rushed because of lack of this foreknowledge, and the grim failure of some returned soldier settlements pointed its lesson. In this alone, the council made a great economic contribution to Australia’s development. In the matter of prickly pear, the council, working with the Governments of Queensland and New South Wales, has reclaimed 30,000,000 acres of good land worth at least £30,000,000, and, in all, the pear—thanks to the operation of '‘that little wog known so fearsomejy as Cactoblastis Cactorum”—is “down.” on 60,000,000 acres, all of which is gradually being brought into use.

Secondary Industry •These and other things the council has done. It would be impossible to estimate/their value in terms of money. Gradually, its activities were extended to secondary industrial problems. That stage was hot reached until 1937. Then, Australia was, in the industrial sense, a nation of jobbers. Uniform standards did not exist. It was difficult, if not impossible, to secure interchange of manufactured parts. Mass production—a desired end —was consequently impossible. Then, on the recommendation of the council, a National Standards Laboratory was set up, together with an aeronautical laboratory. Soon, there came a laboratory, for the examination of problems in the chemical field. Men were sent abroad to study the establishment of electrical standards and standards of

Australian secondary industry about to emerge from its somewr.at chaotic condition of “unrelation,” was to cease to be a company of independent and non-interchangeable entities. It was a priceless boon to Australia that this work was put in hand before the war began. Australia’s industrial war effort, her aeroplane industry, and the productivity of her primary industries in the days, of strain oyve a greaf, deal to C.5.1.R., and’ to the successive' Governments that gave it unstinted support. Industry expressed its appreciation by endowing and building new laboratories for new studies under the council control. Gifts literally flowed in. The council opened up new division after new division, and now stands ready to meet the challenge of an unpredictable, but scientifically almost hyperactive, future.

In the first year of its existence, the council spent about £31,200. It employed about 100. Its current estimated annual expenditure—including the 1 special grant for research in wool production and utilisation—is abobt £1,500,000. Its employees numbed about 2000. Yet, freed, as it has been from departmental processes, its senior executive staff is little larger today than it was in the year of foundation!