White, Frederick William George (1905 - 1994)

Summary

Frederick White was a physicist who, after graduating from the Victoria Univsrsity College (Wellington, New Zealand) and the University of Cambridge, and teaching in Cambridge and New Zealand for 10 years, came to Australia during WWII. Initially he worked for CSIR on the development of radar. He had a distinguished career at the head of CSIR and CSIRO for over 25 years, retiring as Chairman in 1970. Highlights of this period include significant advances in wool textile research, radio astronomy, meteorology and atmospheric physics. White was involved in a broad range of scientific endeavours and organisations including ANZAAS, the introduction of he metric system to Papua New Guinea, university councils and the Radio Research Board. Elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1960, he served as Vice-President, a member of the National Committee for Antarctic Research, and Chairman of the Editorial Boards of the Academy's journals. He donated money to the Academy for the Frederick White Prize (later Medal) and the Elizabeth and Frederick White Conferences. He was also an amateur ornithologist, who studied the songs of the male Olive Whistler in the Kosciusko National Park and other areas in eastern Australia using a sonograph, identifying some of the song functions, tracing the birds' seasonal migrations and finding evidence for song learning.

Details

Chronology

1931 - 1936

Career position - Lecturer in Physics, King's College, London

1937 - 1941

Career position - Professor of Physics, Canterbury University College, Christchurch, New Zealand

1941

Career position - Acting Chairman, Radiophysics Advisory Board, CSIR

1941 - 1946

Career position - Chief, Division of Radiophysics, CSIR

c. 1941 - 1947

Career position - Member of Council, Australian Council for Aeronautics

1946 - 1949

Career position - Member, CSIR Executive

1949 - 1956

Career position - Chief Executive, CSIRO Chief Executive, CSIRO Chief Executive, CSIRO

1954

Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - Chief Executive of the CSIRO

1956 - 1957

Career position - President, Australian Branch, Institute of Physics

1957 - ?

Career position - Chairman, Radio Research Board

1957 - 1959

Career position - Deputy Chairman, CSIRO

1959 - ?

Career position - Member, National Committee on Antarctic Research, Australian Academy of Science

July 1959 - May 1970

Career position - Chairman, CSIRO

1960 - 1979

Career position - Member of Council, Australian National University

1960 - 1994

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1961 - 1967

Career position - Member of Council, Monash University

1961 - 1994

Award - Honorary Fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand

1962

Award - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) - Chairman of the CSIRO

1963 - 1964

Career position - President, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1966 - 1994

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1969

Award - DSc honoris causa, Monash University

1969

Award - DSc honoris causa, Aunstralian National University

1970

Award - DSc honoris causa, University of Papua New Guinea

1970 - 1994

Award - Honorary Fellow, Australian Institute of Physics

1971 - 1975

Career position - Chairman, commission to introduce metric system to Papua New Guinea

1971 - 1980

Career position - Chairman, Editorial Board, Records of the Australian Academy of Science

1973 - 1994

Award - Honorary Member, Royal Society of New South Wales

1974

Career position - Chairman, Pacific Science Congress on Metric Conversion

1974 - 1977

Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Science

1975

Award - ANZAAS Medal, Australian ans New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1976 - 1977

Career position - Vice-President, Australian Academy of Science

1980 - 1983

Career position - Editor, Historical Records of Australian science

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Frederick William George White - Records, 1931 - 1993, MS 111; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, University of Melbourne

• Audio of interview with Sir Fredrick White, 12 August 1986, P000889; Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, University of Melbourne. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Frederick William George White - Records, 1769 - 1969, MS 2384; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

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

Book Sections

• Fox, Karen, 'White, Sir Frederick William (Fred) (1905-1994), physicist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 19: 1991 - 1995 A-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2021), pp. 876-877, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/white-sir-frederick-william-fred-1035. Details

Journal Articles

• Brown, R. Hanbury; Minnett, Harry C; White, Fredrick W. G., 'Edward George Bowen 1911-1991', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (2) (1992), 151-166. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9920920151. Details
• Brown, Robert Hanbury; Minnett, H. C.; and White, Frederick William George, 'Edward George Bowen, 14 January 1911 - 12 August 1991', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 38 (1992), 41-65. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1992.0003. Details
• Minnett, H. C.; and Robertson, Rutherford Ness, 'Sir Frederick William George White, C.B.E., 26 May 1905 - 17 Aug 1994', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 42 (1996), 497-521. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1996.0030. Details
• Minnett, H. C.; and Robertson, Rutherford Sir, 'Frederick William George White 1905-1994', Historical Records of Australian Science, 11 (2) (1996), 239-258. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9961120239. Details
• White, F. W. G., 'John Percival Vissing Madsen', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 2 (1) (1971), 51-65. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9710210051.htm. Details
• White, F. W. G., ' A personal account of the historical development of CSIRO', Nature, 261 (1976), 633-6. https://doi.org/10.1038/261633A0. Details
• White, F. W. G., 'Casey of Berwick and Westminster, Baron Richard Gardiner Casey, KG, PC, GCMG, CH, DSO, MC, KStJ, FAA, MA(Cantab.)', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 3 (4) (1977), 54-83. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9770340054.htm. Details
• White, F. W. G.; and Huxley, L. G. H., 'Radio Research Australia, 1927-39', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 3 (1) (1975), 7-29. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9750310007.htm. Details
• White, F. W.G., 'Robert Gordon Menzies (1894-1978)', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (1) (1980), 68-102. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9800510068. Details
• White, Frederick, 'CSIR to CSIRO - the events of 1948-1949', Public Administration, 34 (4) (1975), 281-93. Details
• White, Frederick William George, 'Robert Gordon Menzies, 20 December 1894 - 15 May 1978', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 25 (1979), 445-76. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1979.0016. Details
• White, Sir Frederick, 'James Cook and the Measurement of Longitude', Navigation, 3 (2) (1969), 179-183. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/77649616. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21166421. Details
• Frederick White Medal, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, 2022. https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/awards-and-opportunities/frederick-white-medal. Details
• 'White, Frederick (19050526-19940817)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-464875. Details

Resource Sections

• 'White, Frederick William George - Ms 111', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms111.html. Details
• 'White, Frederick William George', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P000889p.htm. Details
• Ward, C., 'Sir Frederick William George White', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 2011, https://csiropedia.csiro.au/White-Sir-Frederick-William-George. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_w.html. Details
• Binnie, Anna, 'Oliphant, the Father of Atomic Energy', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 139 (2006), 11-22, https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/139_Binnie2.pdf. Details
• Binnie, Anna, 'A Short History of the Australian Institute of Physics, Part 2: from the Formation of the Australian Branch of the Institute of Physics to the Establishment of the Australian Institute of Physics', Australian Physics, 44 (4) (2007), 128-137, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IN7sV_RIRljwstfZLa7pjQyvisDmp_m0/view?ts=65d6c651. Details
• McIntyre, A. K., 'Walter Victor Macfarlane 1913-82', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (2) (1985), 247-265. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9850620247. Details
• Paterson, M. S., 'John Conrad Jaeger 1907-1979', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (3) (1982), 64-88. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9820530064. Details
• Rees, A. L. G., 'Ian William Wark 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (4) (1987), 533-548. https://doi.org/10.1071HR9870640533. Details
• Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001), 492 pp. Details
• Walsh, A.; and Willis, J. B., 'Albert Lloyd George Rees 1916-1989', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (1) (1992), 31-47. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9920910031. Details