Weickhardt, Leonard William (Len) (1908 - 2000)

Summary

Len Weickhardt joined ICI as a Research and Production Chemist in 1935 and was Research Director of Imperial Chemical Industry of Australia and New Zealand (ICIANZ) 1955-1970. He was Chancellor of the University of Melbourne 1972-1978 and active in many organisations. In 2007 the Royal Australian Chemical Institute inaugurated the Weickhardt Medal for Distinguished Contribution to Economic Advancement to recognise significant contribution to the economic advancement of the Australian economy through work in the chemistry area.

Details

Chronology

1935 - 1938

Career position - Chemist, ICI Ltd, United Kingdom

1938 - 1950

Career position - Development and production positions, ICI Ltd, United Kingdom

1944 - 1953

Award - Fellow, Australian Chemical Institute

1950 - 1954

Career position - Personnel Manager, Imperial Chemical Industry of Australia and New Zealand

1953 - 1995

Award - Fellow, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1955

Career position - General Manager, Imperial Chemical Industry of Australia and New Zealand

1955 - 1970

Career position - Executive and Research Director, Imperial Chemical Industry of Australia and New Zealand

1958

Career position - President, New South Wales Branch, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1958 - 1959

Career position - President, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1966 - 1972

Career position - Deputy Chancellor, University of Melbourne

1968

Award - Leighton Memorial Medal, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1968 - 1980

Career position - Chairman, Nylex Corporation

1970 - 1980

Career position - Chairman, Sidney Cooke Ltd

1970 - 1980

Career position - Chairman, Rocla Industries

1972 - 1978

Career position - Chancellor, University of Melbourne

1975 - 1987

Award - Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences (FTS)

1976

Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - for Science and Education.

1976

Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

1978 - 1980

Career position - Chairman, Export Finance Insurance Corporation

1979 - 1982

Career position - President, Royal Melbourne Hospital

1980 - 1989

Career position - Chairman, Melbourne Committee, Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research

1987 - 2000

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE) [Foundation Fellow AATS 1975]

1991

Award - Archibald Ollé Literature Prize, New South Wales Branch, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1995 - 2000

Award - Honorary Fellow, Royal Australian Chemical Institute (HonFRACI)

Related entries

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Leonard William Weickhardt - Records, 1935 - 1988; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Weickhardt, L. W., ANZAAS: the First Half Century as Illuminated by the Spectral Line of Masson (Melbourne: Monash Congress, 1985), 420 at 421-426 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., 'Leighton, Arthur Edgar (1873-1961), chemical engineer and administrator' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 69-70. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leighton-arthur-edgar-7165. Details
• 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. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/masson-sir-david-orme-7511. Details
• Weickhardt, L. W., 'Hartung, Ernst Johannes (1893-1970), professor of chemistry and astronomer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 405-406. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hartung-ernst-johannes-10449. Details

Journal Articles

• Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, '150 Years, 150 Stories: Leonard William Weickhardt', Uni News, 12 (13) (2003), 4. Details
• Weickhardt, L. W., 'The production of sulphamerazine in Australia 1943 - 1945', Australian Chemical Institute Journal and Proceedings, 14 (1947), 81-120. Details
• Weickhardt, L. W., 'Richard Randolph Garran 1903-1991', Chemistry in Australia, 58 (November) (1991), 471. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Weickhardt, Len; Kolm, Jan; Bradley, John; and Potter, Owen, 'A distinguished, fair and tactful chemical engineer: Ian Robinson, Obituary', The Age (1995). Details

Resources

• 'Weickhardt, L W (1908-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-598738. Details
• 'Awarded honorary LLD, 1976', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. 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_w.html. Details
• Beale, Bob, Engineering a Legacy: Memories of the journey of CSIRO Chemical Engineering (Clayton, Victoria: CSIRO Minerals, 2005), 124 pp. pages 25. Details
• Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, 150 years, 150 stories: brief biographies of one hundred and fifty remarkable people associated with the University of Melbourne (Melbourne: Department of History, University of Melbourne, 2003), 168 pp. Details