Person
Darnell-Smith, George Percy (1868 - 1942)
- Born
- 15 October 1868
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, England - Died
- 11 April 1942
Manly, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Biologist, Botanic gardens director and Plant pathologist
Summary
George Darnell-Smith was a noted as a plant pathologist. He joined the New South Wales Bureau of Microbiology in 1909, moving to the Department of Agriculture in 1913 when it assumed the responsibilities of the Bureau. Between 1913 and 1927 he was Government biologist. During his early years with the Department he published over 80 papers, mainly in the Agricultural gazette of New South Wales, on a wide variety of topics including fungal diseases of crops, bee diseases, flying foxes, and tobacco curing. His major contribution to agriculture was in developing copper carbonate powder, a fungicide against bunt disease of wheat, which was adopted world-wide by the 1920s. In 1924 Darnell-Smith became Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, which position he held concurrently with that of Government Biologist. He retired as Director in 1933. He was a long-standing Member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.
Details
Chronology
- 1891
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of London
- 1893 - 1907
- Career position - Lecturer in chemistry and biology, Merchant Venturers' Technical College, Bristol, United Kingdom
- 1900
- Career event - Elected Member, Institute of Chemistry, United Kingdom
- 1907 - 1909
- Career position - Assistant Director, Technical Education, New Zealand
- 1909 - 1913
- Career position - Assistant Microbiologist, Bureau of Microbiology, Sydney
- 1909 - 1942
- Career position - Member, Linnean Society of New South Wales
- 1910
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), ad eundem, University of Bristol
- 1913 - 1927
- Career position - Government Biologist, Department of Agriculture, New South Wales
- 1918
- Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Sydney [Supervised by A Lawson]
- 1924 - 1933
- Career position - Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
- 1926
- Career event - Elected Member (Botany), Australian National Research Council
- 1937
- Career event - Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS)
Related entries
Archival resources
New South Wales Department of Agriculture
- George Percy Darnell-Smith - Records, 1913 - 1933; New South Wales Department of Agriculture. Details
Published resources
Book Sections
- Kuiper, J., 'Darnell-Smith, George Percy (1868-1942), biologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 212-213, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/darnellsmith-george-percy-5886. Details
Journal Articles
- 'Obituary: Dr. George Percy Darnell-Smith', Australian Journal of Science, 4 (6) (1942), 191-192. Details
- Darnell-Smith, G. P., 'The Gametophyte of Psilotum', Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 52 (1917), 79, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48503665. Details
- Murray, G. M., 'G. P. Darnell-Smith and the introduction of copper carbonate "dry pickling" of wheat seed', Historical records of Australian science, 35 (2) (2024), 98-104. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23027. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21509817. Details
- 'Darnell-Smith, G P (1868-1868)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-581205. Details
Gavan McCarthy; Ken McInnes
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 13 August 2024
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education