Person
Cummins, John Edward (Jack) (1902 - 1989)
- Born
- 21 October 1902
Perth, Western Australia, Australia - Died
- 7 October 1989
Kew, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Chemist and Science administrator
Summary
Jack Cummins was a chemist and scientific administrator who, after a period as a school teacher and working in a turtle soup factory, became Officer-in-Charge of the Chemical Investigations Division of the Western Australian Department of Forestry. A fellowship from the Science and Industry Endowment Fund enabled him to spend two years studying at the University of Wisconsin. On returning to Australia, Cummins became a Research Officer with the CSIR Division of Forest Products. In 1940 he moved to the CSIR Information section. From 1943 he held senior scientific liaison positions with CSIR(O) in Melbourne, London and Washington D.C. For two years he was Director of the Division of Scientific and Technical Information, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. Cummins was involved in the establishment of the Ian Clunies Ross Foundation in 1959 and served as the inaugural Chief Executive Officer.
Details
Chronology
- 1923
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Western Australia
- 1924 - 1927
- Career position - Officer-in-charge, Chemical Investigations Division, WA Department of Forestry
- 1927 - 1929
- Award - Training in forest products research at the Forest Products Laboratory, Department of Agriculture, Madison, Wisconsin, USA., Science and Industry Endowment Fund
- 1929 - 1939
- Career position - Research officer, CSIR Division of Forest Products
- 1932
- Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
- 1940 - 1943
- Career position - Worked for Information Section, CSIR
- 1940 - 1953
- Award - Fellow, Australian Chemical Institute
- 1943 - 1945
- Career position - Director, CSIR Information Bureau
- 1945 - 1948
- Career position - Officer in charge, CSIR Information Section
- 1948 - 1955
- Career position - Chief Scientific Liaison Officer, CSIR(O) Scientific Liaison Bureau, London
- 1949 - ?
- Award - Fellow, Royal Institute of Chemistry, London
- 1955 - 1958
- Career position - Director of Scientific Liaison, Australian Embassy, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
- 1958 - 1960
- Career position - Director, Division of Scientific and Technical Information, International Atomic Energy Agency
- 1959 - ?
- Career position - Chief Executive Officer, Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation
- 1960 - 1962
- Career position - Worked at CSIRO Head Office
- 1962
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Archival resources
The University of Melbourne Archives
- Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation - Records, 1942 - 1978, 78/96; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
Published resources
Book Sections
- Butcher, Barry W., 'Cummins, John Edward (Jack) (1902 - 1989), chemist and science administrator' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 17: 1981 - 1990 A-K, Diane Langmore, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2007), pp. 281-282. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cummins-john-edward-jack-12380. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q24228586. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/44150083712614940871. Details
- 'Cummins, J E (1902-1989)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1470768. 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_c.html. Details
- Smith, Susan and Spurling, Thomas H., 'The Science and Industry Endowment Fund: supporting the development of Australian science', Historical Records of Australian Science, 26 (1) (2015), 58-83, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR14027. Details
McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 7 May 2024
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education