Person

Masson, David Orme (1858 - 1937)

KBE FRSE FRS

Born
18 January 1858
Hampstead, England
Died
10 August 1937
South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Chemist

Summary

Sir David Masson was Professor of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne (1886-1923) and was important in the establishment of the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research). He presided over a number of national scientific and research organisations and was knighted in 1923. Masson is commemorated by the Masson theatre and Masson Road at the University of Melbourne; the Masson lectureship from the Australian National Research Council 1931; Masson memorial scholarship from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute 1939; and a mountain range and island in Antarctica. Masson was educated at the University of Edinburgh and in Göttingen, Germany.

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Details

Chronology

1878
Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Edinburgh
1880
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Edinburgh
1880
Career position - Lecturer in Chemistry at University College Bristol, UK
1882 - 1885
Career position - Research Fellow of the University of Edinburgh
1884
Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Edinburgh
1886 - 1923
Career position - Professor of Chemistry, University of Melbourne
1891
Career position - President, Section B (Chemistry), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1900
Career position - First President, Society of Chemical Industry of Victoria
1912 - 1914
Career position - Chairman of the organising committee, British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting
1914
Career position - Vice-President, Section B (Chemistry), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting
1917
Career position - Foundation President, Victorian Branch, Australian Chemical Institute
1918
Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
1919 -
Career position - Foundation Councillor (Chemistry), Australian National Research Council
1922 - 1926
Career position - President, Australian National Research Council
1922 - 1926
Career position - President, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1923
Award - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)
1923 - 1924
Career position - President, Australian Chemical Institute
1931
Award - Masson lectureship established in his honour by the Australian National Research Council
1933 - 1935
Career position - President, Australian Chemical Institute
1939
Award - Masson Memorial Scholarship established in his honour by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • David Orme Masson - Records, 1893 - 1933, MS 012; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • David Orme Masson - Records, 1881 - 1937; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

  • Masson, David Orme, The Classification of the Chemical Elements (Melbourne: Melville, Mullen & Slade, 1896). Details
  • Selleck, R. J. W., Finding Home: the Masson Family (North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2013), 442 pp. Details
  • Weickhardt, L.W., Masson of Melbourne: the Life and Times of David Orme Masson KBE, MA, DSc, LLD, FRSE, FRS, Professor of Chemistry, University of Melbourne 1886-1923 (Parkville, Vic: Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 1989), 226 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Weickhardt, L. W., 'Masson, Sir David Orme (1858-1937), Chemist, Professor and Man of Science' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 432-435. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100424b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • Anderson, J. S., 'Sir David Masson's Scientific Work', The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Proceedings, 25 (1958), 542-544. Details
  • Black, Professor; Kernot, Professor W.C.; Leibius, Dr. C.A.; Liversidge, Professor A.; Masson, Professor Orme, Rennie, Professor, Cox, Mrs. S.H.; Secretary, 'Report of Committee No. 14 : The State and progress of Chemical Science in Australia, with Special Reference to Gold and Silver Appliances Used in the Colonies and Elsewhere', Report of the second meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 (1890), 283-292, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14563261. Details
  • Burnet, Frank Macfarlane, 'David Orme Masson', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 25 (1958), 530-532. Details
  • Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, '150 Years, 150 Stories: Masson Family', Uni News, 12 (10) (2003), 4. Details
  • MacDonald, G.W.; and Masson, David Orme, 'A Product of the Action of Nitric Oxide on Sodium Ethylate', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 65 (1894), 944-949. Details
  • Masson, D.O., 'obituary of David Orme Masson in presidential address by W.L. Waterhouse ', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 72 (1938), 5-6. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Sulphine Salts Containing the Ethylene Radical. Part II. On Dehn's Reaction Between Ethylene Bromide and Alkyl Sulphide', The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science, 53 (1886), 129. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'On the Relation Between the Boiling-Points, Molecular Volumes, and ChemicaL Characters of Liquids', Philosophical Magazine, 30 (1890), 412-423. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Uber die beziehung zwischen den siedenpunkten, molekularvolumen und der chemischen zusammensetzung der flussigkeiten', Philosophical Magazine (1890), 412-423. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Does Magnesium form Alkyl Compounds?', Report of the third meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 3 (1891), 107-108, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15367475. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'On Molecular Volumes and Boiling-Points in Relation to Chemical Character', Report of the third meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 3 (1891), 103-106, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15367471. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'A Deduction from the Gaseous Theory of Solution', Nature, 43 (1891), 345-349. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Presidential address in Section B : Chemistry and Mineralogy. The Gaseous Theory of Solution', Report of the third meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 3 (1891), 84-103, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15367450. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Eine folgerung aus der theorie gasahnlicher losungen', Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, 7 (1891), 500-510. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Does Hydrogen Find its Proper Place at the Head of Group I, or at the Head of Group VII ?', The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science, 72 (1896), 283-284. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Ionic velocities', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 192 (1899), 331-350. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Uebere ionengeschwindigkeiten.', Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, 29 (1899), 501-526. Details
  • Masson, David Orme, 'Sir David Orme Masson (Obituary by A.C.D. Rivett)', Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 2 (1939), 455-464. Details
  • Masson, David Orme and Kirkland, J.B., 'Preparation of the Salts of Triethylsulphine, Tetraethylphosphonium, and Analogous Bases', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 55 (1889), 135-142. Details
  • Masson, David Orme and Kirkland, J.B., 'The Action of Bromine and Chlorine on the Salts of Tetraethylphosphonium', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 55 (1889), 126-134. Details
  • Masson, David Orme and Kirkland, J.B., 'The Experimental Investigation of Osmotic Pressure', Report of the fifth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 5 (1894), 316, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15362512. Details
  • Masson, David Orme and Kirkland, J.B., 'The Experimental Investigation of Osmotic Pressure', Report of the fifth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 5 (1894), 316, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15362512. Details
  • Masson, David Orme and Steele B.D., 'The Blue Salt of Fehling's Solution and Other Cuprotartrates', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 75 (1899), 725-734. Details
  • Masson, David Orme and Wilsmore, N.T.M, 'Does Magnesium form Compounds with Hydrocarbon Radicles?', Proceedings of the Chemical Society, 7 (1891). Details
  • Masson, Orme (sic), 'Short Address on the Chemistry of To-Day', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, New Series, 2 (1890), xiii-xvii. Details
  • Rae, Ian D., 'David Orme Masson, the Periodic Classification of the Elements and His 'Flap' Model of the Periodic Table', Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (1) (2013), 40-52, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12018. Details
  • Rae, Ian D., 'Practising organometallic chemistry in nineteenth century Australia: David Orme Masson and diethyl magnesium', Historical Records of Australian Science, 33 (2) (2022), 122-32. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22001. Details
  • Rivett, A. C. D., 'Sir David Orme Masson, 1858 - 1937', Obituary notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 2 (7) (1939), 454-64. Details
  • Schedvin, C. B., 'Environment, Economy and Australian Biology 1890-1939', Historical Studies, 21 (1984), 11-28. Details
  • Wark, I.W., 'David Orme Masson, 1858-1937.', The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Proceedings, 25 (November) (1958), 533-541. Details
  • Wilsmore, N. T. M., 'The Life and Work of Sir David Orme Masson', Australian Journal of Science, 3 (1941), 139-144. Details

Reports

  • Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Resolutions passed by the Advisory Council, July 1917, together with, Report and recommendations on the organization and work of the proposed permanent Institute of Science and Industry (Melbourne: Government of Australia, 1917), 10 pp. Details
  • Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Report of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry: covering the period from the date of the appointment of the Executive Committee (14th April, 1916) to the 30th June 1917 (Melbourne: Commonwealth Government Printer, 1917). https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2788471586. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

Reviews

See also

McCarthy, G.J.

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