Rennie, Edward Henry (1852 - 1927)

Summary

Edward Rennie was the Angas Professor of Chemistry, University of Adelaide from 1885. Early in his career he was also South Australian government analyst and inspector of explosives. Rennie is commemorated by the Rennie Memorial Medal that has been awarded by the (Royal) Australian Chemical Institute since 1931.

Details

Chronology

1870

Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Sydney

1871 - 1877

Career position - Teacher, Sydney and Brisbane Grammar Schools

1876

Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Sydney

1879

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of London, England

1882

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of London, England

1885 - 1888

Career position - President, Royal Society of South Australia

1885 - 1889

Career position - Angas Chair of Chemistry, University of Adelaide

1887

Career position - Dean of Science, University of Adelaide

1888

Career position - Founding Vice-President, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1889

Career event - Founder, South Australian School of Mines and Industry

1889 - 1898

Career position - Council Member, University of Adelaide

1890

Career position - President, Section B (Chemistry), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1899 - 1903

Career position - President, Royal Society of South Australia

1909 - 1927

Career position - Member of Council, University of Adelaide

1914

Career position - Vice-President, Section B (Chemistry), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting

1916 - 1917

Career Position - President, Society of Chemical Industry of South Australia

1916 - 1925

Career Position - Chairman, State Committee, Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry

1917 - 1927

Career Position - Founding Member, Australian Chemical Institute

1921 -

Career position - Foundation Councillor (Chemistry), Australian National Research Council

1924

Career Position - Council President, South Australian School of Mines and Industries

1924 - 1926

Career Position - President, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1925 - 1926

Career Position - President, Australian Chemical Institute

1925 - 1926

Career position - Council Member, Australian National Committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

1926

Career event - Founder of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

Related entries

Archival resources

Private hands (Rennie, H.M.)

• Edward Henry Rennie - Records, 1852 - 1927; Private hands (Rennie, H.M.). Details

The University of Adelaide Archives

• Edward Henry Rennie - Records, 1887 - 1899, Series 61; The University of Adelaide Archives. Details
• Edward Henry Rennie - Records, 1908, Series 794; The University of Adelaide Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details

Book Sections

• Barker, J. M.; Stranks, D.R., 'Rennie, Edward Henry (1852-1927), scientist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 361-362. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110371b.htm. Details

Conference Proceedings

• Report of the fifth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science edited by Tate, Ralph; Rennie, E. H.; Bragg, W. H. (Adelaide: Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1894), i-xxxi, 1-691 pp, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/52737. Details

Journal Articles

• 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
• Dobbin, Leonard and Rennie, Edward H., 'Action of the Halogens on the Salts of Organic Bases. Part II. Tetramethylammonium Salts', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 49 (1886), 846-857. Details
• Rennie, E.H., 'On the Acids of the Native Currant', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 14 (1880), 119-121. Details
• Rennie, E.H., 'On the Discolouration of Some White Bricks Made from Certain Clays in the Neighbourhood of Sydney', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 17 (1883), 133-134. Details
• Rennie, E.H., 'Chemistry and Mineralogy', The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science, 62 (1890), 45-47, 53-55. Details
• Rennie, E.H.; and Goyder, G., Jr., 'The resins of Ficus rubiginosa and F. macrophylla.', Proceedings of the Chemical Society, 115 (1892), 146. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Parabenzylphenol and its Derivatives (Part III), and on an Isomeric Benzylphenol', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 49 (1886), 406-411. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Parabenzylphenol and its Derivatives and a New Benzylphenol', The Chemical News and Journal of Physical Science, 53 (1886), 178. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Glycyphyllin, the Sweet Principle of Smilax glycyphylla', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 49 (1886), 857-865. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Notes on the Sweet Principle of Smilax Glycyphylla', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 20 (1886), 211-212. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'The Colouring Matter of Drosera whittakeri', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 51 (1887), 371-377. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Poisoning by Tinned Foods', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, 9 (1887), 10-11. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'On Phlorizin', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 51 (1887), 634-637. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Notes on the Colouring Matter of Drosera whittakeri', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, 10 (1888), 72-73. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Presidential Address, Philosophical Society of South Australia', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, 11 (1889), 225-234. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'On some So-Called South Australian Rubies', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, 11 (1889), 17-18. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'On the Colouring Matter of Drosera whittakeri', Report of the second meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 (1890), 398-399, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14563376. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Fluorescence of Bursaria spinosa', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, 13 (1890), 237. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Presidential address in Section B : Chemistry and Mineralogy', Report of the second meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 (1890), 55-66, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14563032. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'The Colouring Matters of Drosera Whittakeri', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 63 (1893), 1083-1089. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'Preliminary Note on the Coloring Matter of Lomatia ilicifolia', Report of the fifth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 5 (1894), 326, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15362522. Details
• Rennie, Edward H., 'A Colouring Matter from Lomatia ilicifolia and Lomatia longifolia', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 67 (1895), 784-793. Details
• Rennie, Edward H.; and Goyder, Jun., G., 'Note on the Alkaloids of Strychnos psilosperma', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, New Series, 4 (1891), 29-30. Details
• Rennie, Edward H.; and Goyder, Jun., G., 'The Resins of Ficus rubiginosa and Ficus macrophylla (Preliminary Note)', Journal of the Chemical Society, London, 61 (1892), 916-921. Details
• Rennie, Edward H.; and Turner, E.F., 'Note on a Volcanic Ash from Tanna', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, 14 (1891), 256. Details
• Rennie, Edward H.; and Turner, E.F., 'On the Poisonous Constituents of Stephania hernandifolia', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide, South Australia, 17 (1893), 186-188. Details
• Rennie, Edward H.; and Turner, E.F., 'Note on the Determination of Nitrates in the Adelaide Water', Report of the fifth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 5 (1894), 325-326, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15362521. Details
• Rennie, Edward H.; and Turner, E.F., 'Some Notes on the Poisonous Constituents of Stephania hernandiaefolia', Report of the sixth meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 6 (1895), 277-278, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52884151. Details
• Rennie, Edward H.; Turner, E. F., 'On the Ocurrence of Aesculin in Bursaria spinosa', Report of the second meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 (1890), 399, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14563377. Details

Reports

• Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Report of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry: for the year ended 30th June 1918 (Melbourne: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1918), 64 pp. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2004795988. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/92419445. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1293324. Details
• Early Chemists of Sydney, 2006, http://members.optusnet.com.au/jph8524/McKern.htm. Details
• 'Rennie, Edward Henry (1852-1927)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1467459. Details

See also

• Coates, J. H., 'Denis Oswald Jordan 1914-82', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (2) (1985), 237-246. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9850620237. Details
• Currie, George; Graham, John, The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1966), 203 pp, https://ebooks.publish.csiro.au/content/origins-csiro. pages 10, 59. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details