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 entries
Archival resources
Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details
Books
- 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. Details
- Robert D. Watt, The romance of the Australian land industries (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1955), 271 pp. Details
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
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21538196. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93209132. Details
- 'Watt, R D (1881-1965)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-559887. Details
Resource Sections
- 'Watt, Robert Dickie - Ms 46', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms046.html. Details
See also
Gavan McCarthy and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 11 September 2024
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education