Jewell, William Ralph (1894 - 1975)

Summary

William Jewell headed the State Laboratories of various Victorian government departments. He played a prominent part in reorganising the beet sugar industry at Maffra and advised the Commonwealth Government on the economics and feasibility of producing power alcohol from cereals. In association with the Commonwealth Department of Primary Industry, he played a prominent part in the introduction of Commonwealth food specifications and standard methods of analysis for a wide variety of foods used by the Australian and allied armed forces.

Details

Jewell studied metallurgy at the Universities of Melbourne and Sheffield (UK) and went to work for the Ministry of Munitions in Britain in1915. Upon returning to Australia, he was appointed agricultural research chemist with the Victorian State Service. Next he became Director of the state chemical laboratories of the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Mines. Jewell was an original member of the Council of the National Association of Testing Authorities, and continued as Victorian representative and chairman until his retirement. He was President of the Australian Chemical Institute from 1945 to 1946.

Chronology

1945 - 1946

Career position - President, Australian Chemical Institute

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Jewell, W. R., 'Blackett, Cuthbert Robert (1831-1902), pharmacist and chemist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), p. 175. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030166b.htm. Details
• Jewell, W. R., 'Pearson, Alfred Naylor (1856-1933), chemist and agriculturist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 186-187. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110189b.htm. Details
• O'Brien, E.J., 'Jewell, William Ralph (1894-1975), Chemist and Public Servant' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), p. 569. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140649b.htm. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21539592. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/34197754. Details
• 'Jewell, William Ralph (1894-1975)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1467058. Details

See also

• Wisdom, John, A History of Defence Science in Australia (Melbourne: Defence Science and Technology Organisation, 1995), 267 pp. Details