Person

Watt, Robert Dickie (1881 - 1965)

Kt

Born
23 April 1881
Knocklandside, Ayrshire, Scotland
Died
10 April 1965
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Agricultural scientist and University Administrator

Summary

Robert Watt was widely influential in agricultural and broader scientific matters in Australia in the first half of the 20th-century. In 1910 he was appointed the inaugural Professor of Agriculture at the University of Sydney. Over the next 35 years he built the considerable reputation of the faculty in teaching and research. In this he was ably assisted by Walter Waterhouse, appointed as lecturer in 1921 and successor to Watt as Professor. Watt was a Member of the Australian National Research Council for 35 years and of the New South Wales Committee of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research from 1926 to 1941. Organisations of which he served as President included the Royal Society of New South Wales and the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science. In retirement Watt researched Australian agricultural history and published The romance of the Australian land industries (1955).

Details

Chronology

1903
Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Glasgow, Scotland
1905
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Glasgow, Scotland
1905 - 1907
Award - Carnegie Research Scholarship, Rothamsted Experiment Station, United Kingdom
1908
Career position - Chief Chemist, Transvaal Department of Agriculture
1910 - 1946
Career position - Foundation Professor of Agriculture, University of Sydney
1914
Career position - Local Secretary for Sydney, Section M (Agriculture), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting
1915 - 1946
Career position - Trustee, Public Library of New South Wales
1916 - 1919
Career position - Member, Advisory Council of Science and Industry
1919 - 1954
Career position - Foundation Councillor (Agriculture), Australian National Research Council
1920 - 1926
Career position - Member, Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry
1920 - 1946
Career position - Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Sydney
1922
Career position - Chair, Murray Lands Advisory Committee, New South Wales
1924
Career position - President, Section K (Agriculture and Forestry), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1925
Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales
1926 - 1941
Career position - Chair, New South Wales State Committee, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
1934 - 1935
Career position - Fellow of the Senate, University of Sydney
1935
Career position - President, New South Wales Branch, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science
1935 - 1965
Award - Life Member, Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales
1937 -
Career event - Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS)
1939 - 1940
Career position - President, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science
1946
Life event - Retired
1950
Award - Farrer Memorial Medal, Farrer Memorial Trust
1960
Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt)
1960 - 1965
Award - Fellow, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science

Related Awards

Related Corporate Bodies

Related Events

Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Robert Dickie Watt - Records, 1910 - 1965, MS 046; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

Book Sections

  • Campbell, Keith O., 'Watt, Sir Robert Dickie (1881-1965), agricultural scientist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 410-411. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120457b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • Watt, R. D., 'The Influence of Science on the Progress of the Land Industries in Australia.', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 60 (1926), 14037. 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

Resource Sections

See also

  • Copeland, Les, 'A century of agriculture in the University of Sydney', Agricultural science, 31 (2) (2020), 59-65. Details
  • McIntosh, R. A.; and Smith-White, S., 'Irvine Armstrong Watson 1914-1986', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (4) (1989), 405-415. Details

Gavan McCarthy and Helen Cohn

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