Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) (1953 - )

Summary

The Royal Australian Chemical Institute's (RACI) origins date back to 1917 when it was known as the Australian Chemical Institute (ACI). The ACI was established for the purpose of promoting chemistry, as well as being Australia's qualifying body for professional chemists. Back then it consisted of four State Branches (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria) and had a total founding membership of 400. In 1921/22 the Australian Association of Chemists disbanded and most of its members joined the ACI. In 1923 ACI was incorporated as a public company in New South Wales and in 1932 it was granted a Royal Charter. However, it wasn't until 1953, after a Supplementary Royal Charter, that the Institute changed its name to the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. One of the RACI's goals was to establish national special interest groups which later became known as divisions. Previously these groups were run by the individual RACI branches with little cross-state interaction. To help achieve their goal a Groups Steering Committee was formed in 1964. By 2006 the RACI had 13 Divisions, over 8000 members and a branch in each State and Territory

Related entries

Timeline

 1917 - 1953 Australian Chemical Institute (ACI)
       1953 - Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI)

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Royal Australian Chemical Institute - Records, 1914 - 2002; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• King, Bill; McCarthy, Gavan; Spink, John, The Records of The Royal Australian Chemical Institute 1916-1980 (Melbourne: Australian Science Archives Project, 1988), 65 pp. Details
• Royal Australian Chemical Institute, The Royal Australian Chemical Institute register of members 1 February 1979 (Parkville, Vic.: Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 1979), 207p pp. Details
• Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 1995 register of members (North Melbourne: Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 1995), 265 pp. Details

Conference Papers

• Spink, John, 'The RACI Solid State Division: its origins and early years', in RACI 11th National Convention (2000).. Details

Edited Books

• Hügel, Helmut ed., The Royal Australian Chemical Institute: a century of bonds (Preston, Vic.: Bounce Books, 2017), 159 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• '2017 RACI national award winners', Chemistry in Australia, 2018 (March) (2018), 30-5. Details
• Anon, '2019 RACI national award winners', Chemistry in Australia, 2020 (Jan/Feb) (2020), 26-31. Details
• Anon, '2020 RACI national award winners', Chemistry in Australia (2021), 22-5. Details
• Anon, '2021 RACI national awards', Chemistry in Australia (2022), 26-30. Details
• Anon, '2022 RACI national awards', Chemistry in Australia (2023), 20-5. Details
• Anon, '2023 RACI national awards', Chemistry in Australia (2024), 24-31. Details
• Errington, Stephen G., 'WA Branch of the RACI: the Founders', Chemistry in Australia (1997), 28-29. Details
• Holmes, Andrew, 'RACI's first 100 years: an inspiring chemical history', Chemistry in Australia, 2017 (July) (2017), 18-21. Details
• Hügel, Helmut, 'Celebrating the RACI 1917 - 2017', Chemistry in Australia, 2017 (June) (2017), 24-7. Details
• Leighton, A.E., 'A History of the Australian Chemical Institute, 1914-1932', The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Proceedings, 21 (1954), 127-134; 145-154; 167-184. Details
• McCarthy, Gavan, 'Archival Solutions: the Australian Science Archives Project and the Records of the RACI', Chemistry in Australia, 55 (7 (July 1988)) (1988), 243-245. Details
• McCarthy, Gavan; Cytowicz, Barbara; Jack, Chris, 'Recovering RACI Records ... ASAP', Chemistry in Australia, 64 (9) (1997), 4-5. Details
• Royal Australian Chemical Institute, '2018 RACI National Award winners', Chemistry in Australia, 2019 (Jan/Feb) (2019), 31-6. Details
• Spink, John, 'The RACI [Royal Australian Chemical Insitute] 1917-1967: in Search of a History', Chemistry in Australia, 59 (5) (1992), 194-197. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7373742. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/151259040. Details
• McCarthy, Gavan; Spink, John; et al, Royal Australian Chemical Institute Guide to Records, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 2004, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/guides/raci/RACI.htm. Details
• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-522407. Details

Theses

• O'Connor, Daniel John, 'The Royal Australian Chemical Institution 1917-1967', Thesis, University of Sydney, 1968. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_r.html. Details
• Attiwill, Peter, 'Leeper, Geoffrey Winthrop (1903-1986), Agricultural Chemist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2012), pp. 18-9. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leeper-geoffrey-winthrop-14164. Details
• Eastwood, Frank, 'Roger Brown, a Life in Synthesis and Pyrolysis', Chemistry in Australia, 81 (1) (2014), 27. Details
• Gahan, Lawrence, Berners-Price, Sue and Meaney, Ruth, 'Trevor Appleton, Teacher and Mentor', Chemistry in Australia, 81 (1) (2014), 26. Details
• Spurling, Thomas H., 'Donald Eric Weiss 1915-1998', Historical Records of Australian Science, 22 (1) (2011), 152-70, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR10014. Details
• Spurling, Tom, 'Donald (Don) Willis: Distinguished CSIRO Scientist', Chemistry in Australia, 2013 (July) (2013), 28. Details