Person
Wilkinson, William Percy (1868 - 1947)
- Born
- 13 May 1868
Cathkin, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 14 March 1947
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Analytical chemist
Summary
Percy Wilkinson trained as a pharmacist but made his career as analyst first for the Victorian and then for the Australian Governments. While Assistant Government Analyst for Victoria he worked on the chemical constituents of Eucalyptus species, his report predating similar research by H. G. Smith in New South Wales. In 1908 he was appointed as the first Commonwealth Analyst in the Department of Trade and Customs. He established the Commonwealth Laboratory and founded chemical metrology in the Laboratory. Wilkinson's enthusiasm for wines and wine-making resulted in a number of publications on ampelography including Studies on wine sterilizing machines (1901) and Nomenclature of Australian wines (1919) in which he predicted future controversy around the use of European wine names.
Details
Chronology
- 1886
- Education - Preliminary examination, Pharmacy Board of Victoria
- 1888
- Education - Intermediate examination, Pharmacy Board of Victoria
- 1890 - 1902
- Career position - Assistant Victorian Government Analyst
- 1902 - 1908
- Career position - Victorian Government Analyst
- 1908 - 1933
- Career position - Commonwealth Government Analyst, Department of Trade and Customs
- 1912
- Career position - Representative for Australia, 8th Triennial International Congress of Applied Chemistry, USA
- 1913
- Career position - Elected Fellow, Institute of Chemistry, London
- 1933
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Published resources
Journal Articles
- Spurling, T. H.; and Webb, J. M., 'William Percy Wilkinson: analytical chemist, ampelographer and provocateur', Chemistry in Australia, 2017 (March) (2017), 33. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 28 November 2017, Last modified: 3 July 2018