Person

Demediuk, Taisa (1922 - 2011)

Born
28 October 1922
Matzejow (now Lukiv), Poland (now Ukraine)
Died
31 October 2011
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Chemist
Alternative Names
  • Halatschuk, Taisa (Birth name)

Summary

Dr Taisa Demediuk was a research chemist at the CSIRO Division of Building Research (the CSIRO Building Material Research Section from 1950) located in Highett, Victoria between 1949 and 1958.

She specialised in the problem of the hydration and carbonation of limes used in building processes which caused instability and eventually structural failure. She experimented with the addition of magnesium chloride, magnesium sulphate, resulting in more stable basic salts. This process was much more affordable and simple than previously established ways of stabilising the substance.

In 1952 her research findings on these experiments were published in Letters to Nature.

Her research resulted in the manufacture of building materials.

Dr Demediuk resigned from the CSIRO in 1958 after an application for unpaid leave was denied.

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Details

Chronology

1939
Life event - Fled from Poland to Vienna
1940 - 1945
Education - Diploma of Chemistry, University of Vienna (1940-44) and the Technical University of Prague (1944-45)
1946
Life event - Married Peter Demediuk, an engineer
1948
Life event - Emigrated to Australia with husband and family
1948
Education - Doctor of Natural Philosophy, University of Erlangen in West Germany
1949 - 1953
Career position - Researcher Officer Grade I at CSIRO Division of Building Research, Highett, Victoria
1952
Career event - A Method for Overcoming 'Unsoundness' in Magnesian Limes published in Letters to Nature
1953 - 1955
Career position - Researcher Officer Grade II at CSIRO Division of Building Research, Highett, Victoria
1955 - 1958
Career position - Research Officer at CSIRO Division of Building Research, Highett, Victoria

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Journal Articles

  • Demediuk, Barbara and Spurling, Tom, 'From Matzejow to Highett: the Remarkable Career of Taisa Demediuk', Chemistry in Australia, June (2012), 30-1. Details

Resources

Rebecca Rigby

Created: 3 February 2012, Last modified: 18 March 2013

EOAS ID: biogs/P004946b.htm

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