Person

Thomson, Norman John Perry (Norm) (1931 - 2010)

AM

Born
8 May 1931
Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
Died
2010
Occupation
Agricultural scientist and Plant breeder

Summary

Norm Thomson, agricultural scientist, began conducting pioneer research in the breeding of Australia's own cotton varieties at the CSIRO's Kimberley Research Station in the Ord Rivervalley, in 1964. He was integral to the establishment of the CSIRO's Narrabri cotton research station in 1972. He was Officer-in-Charge there from 1972 until the mid-1980s. The research resulted in many commercially successful varieties including Sicot (1983) and Siokra (1985), the latter being the first widely grown Australian bred variety. Thomson is also known as the developer of Siratac - a widely used computer based pest management system.

Details

In 1989 Thomson received CSIRO's Sir Ian McLennan Impact from Science and Engineering Award for the breeding of two new and successful cotton varieties, Siokra and Sicala..

Chronology

1956
Education - Bachelor of Agricultural Science, Queensland University
1956 - 1958
Career position - Instructor in plant breeding, Queensland Agricultural College
1958 - 1964?
Career position - Agronomist, CSIRO Kimberley Research Station on the Ord River, Western Australia
1964
Education - Master of Science in Agriculture, University of Western Australia
1964 - 1965
Education - Conducted research into plant breeding in the United States, CSIRO Scholarship
1965 - 1968
Career position - Plant breeder, CSIRO Kimberley Research Station on the Ord River, Western Australia
1981
Award - The cotton industries 'Researcher of the Year Award'
1988
Award - The cotton industries 'Researcher of the Year Award'
1988 - 2010
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (FTSE)
1989
Award - Sir Ian McLennan Impact from Science and Engineering Award, CSIRO
1989
Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to promary industry, particularly in the growing of cotton
1 Jan 2001
Award - Centenary Medal - for service to Australian science in plant production and processing

Published resources

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Rebecca Rigby

EOAS ID: biogs/P005143b.htm

This Edition: 2026 February - 1926 Centenaries
Kooyang - Gariwerd calendar - Late summer: late January to late March - season of eels
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