Person

Whitton, William Ivo (Bill) (1924 - 2019)

FTSE

Born
4 October 1924
Sandringham, Victoria, Australia
Died
25 August 2019
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Industrial chemist

Summary

Bill Whitton was an industrial chemist who was particularly interested in applications-oriented research. Early work was on the causes of suffocation in enclosed steel tanks (determined to be oxygen depletion from the cleaning process) and the thermodynamics of the absorption of gasses and poisons. Whitton joined Imperial Chemical Industry of Australian and New Zealand (ICIANZ) in 1952, ultimately becoming Executive Director of ICI Australia from 1971 to 1982. As Research Manager on the 1960s he gave budgetary approval for speculative and high-risk research on the production of nylon. He retired in 1988 as Executive Director of CSIRO's Institute of Industrial Technologies. Whitton had a continuing interest in the development of an Australian science policy. He was a foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. A further interest in the quality of research management in Australia led to him becoming the second President of the Australian Industrial Research Group.

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Details

Chronology

1944
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc(Hons)), University of Melbourne
1945
Career event - Served with the Australian Imperial Forces
1948
Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Melbourne
1948 - 1959
Career position - Associate, Royal Australian Chemical Institute
1951
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of St Andrews, Scotland
1952 - 1959
Career position - Research chemist, Imperial Chemical Industry of Australian and New Zealand (ICIANZ)
1959 - 2019
Award - Fellow, Royal Australian Chemical Institute
1960 - 1963
Career position - Technical Manager and Director, Imperial Chemical Industry (New Zealand)
1963 - 1970
Career position - Research Manager, Imperial Chemical Industry of Australian and New Zealand (ICIANZ)
1968 - 1970
Career position - President, Australian Industrial Research Group
1970 - 1971
Career position - Executive Director, Imperial Chemical Industry of Australian and New Zealand (ICIANZ)
1971 - 1982
Career position - Executive Director, ICI Australia Ltd
1975 - 1979
Career position - Member of Council, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering
1975 - 1987
Award - Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences (FTS)
1978 - 1986
Career position - Chair, Innovations Committee, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering
1983 - 1986
Career position - Executive Director, Institute of Industrial Technology, CSIRO
1986 - 1988
Career position - Executive Director, Institute of Industrial Technologies, CSIRO
1987 - 2019
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE) [Foundation Fellow AATS 1975]
1989 - 1992
Career position - Consultant, Peat Marwick

Published resources

Journal Articles

  • Anon, 'William "Bill" Ivo Whitton FTSE: founding Fellow's mission lives on', Impact: magazine of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, 210 (2020), 67-8, https://www.atse.org.au/what-we-do/strategic-advice/impact-210/. Details
  • Spurling, Tom, 'William Ivo (Bill) Whitton: advocate for scientific and industrial research', Chemistry in Australia, 2019 (November/December) (2019), 31. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Rosanne Walker and Helen Cohn

Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 13 December 2022

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