Person

Whiteley, Kenneth James (1934 - )

Born
28 January 1934
Eumungerie, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Wool expert

Summary

Wool expert Ken Whitley was a lecturer, and later associate professor in Wool Science at the University of New South Wales from 1959 to 1980. From 1980 to 1998 he worked at the CSIRO, beginning as a Senior Principal Research Scientist in the Division of Textile Physics and later becoming Foundation Chief of the newly-established Division of Wool Technology (1988 to 1996).

Whitely is known for his contribution to the development and implementation of methods for the objective measurement of wool in the 1970s and 1980s. Prior to this, the Australian wool industry ran entirely on a traditional system of 'hand and eye' measurement and quality assessment. The introduction of standardised pre-sale testing of raw wool and structured categorisation of wool fibre characteristics completely revolutionised the wool industry and dramatically improved the efficiency of wool valuation and trading in Australia.

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Details

In 1989 Whitleley (with colleagues) was awarded the CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement for the introduction of objective measurement into the marketing of Australian raw wool.

Chronology

1955
Education - Bachelor of Science (Wool Technology), New South Wales University of Technology
1955 - 1957
Career position - Teaching Fellow in the School of Wool Technology, NSW University of Technology
1957 - 1959
Career position - Research Fellow, University of Leeds, UK
1959 - 1980
Career position - Lecturer, Senior Lecturer then Associate Professor in Wool Science, University of New South Wales
1980 - 1984
Career position - Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Textile Physics
1981
Award - Umbrae Memorial Award (Gold medal), by the Government of South Australia
1984 - 1987
Career position - Chief of CSIRO Division of Textile Physics
1988
Award - Warner Memorial Medal of the Textile Institute in Manchester
1988 - 1996
Career position - Foundation Chief of CSIRO Division of Wool Technology
1989
Award - CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement (shared with eight others from CSIRO and external bodies)
1996 - 1998
Career position - Sector coordinator for wool and textile research in CSIRO

Related Awards

Published resources

Books

  • Williams, V. A., From Fleece to Fabric, 1948-1998: 50 Years of Wool Textile Research (Geelong: CSIRO Wool Technology, 1998), 198 pp. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Rebecca Rigby

Created: 19 June 2012, Last modified: 4 April 2024

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