 DSIR logo in the 1980s and 1990s | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1926 |
| Preceding agencies | |
| Dissolved | 1 April 1992 |
| Superseding agency |
|
| Employees | 2,000 in 1976 [1] |
| Minister responsible | |
The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) was a government science agency in New Zealand, founded in 1926 and broken into Crown Research Institutes in 1992.
DSIR was founded in 1926 by Ernest Marsden [1] after calls from Ernest Rutherford for government to support education and research [2] and on the back of the Imperial Economic Conference in London in October and November 1923, when various colonies discussed setting up such departments. [3] It initially received funding from sources such as the Empire Marketing Board. [4] The initial plans also included a new agricultural college, to be jointly founded by Auckland and Victoria University Colleges, Palmerston North was chosen as the site for this and it grew to become Massey University. [5]
DSIR initially had five divisions: [6]
The later Antarctic Division became Antarctica New Zealand in 1996. [8]
The Grasslands Division originally included the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute, which became the Fonterra Research and Development Centre in 2001. [9]
The following is a list of Directors-General (Chief Executive) of DSIR: [10]
Reconstituted into initially 10 semi-independent entities called Crown Research Institutes by the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, with some further consolidation since. [11]
Tīrau is a small town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, 50 kilometres southeast of Hamilton. The town has a population of 804. In the Māori language, "Tīrau" means "place of many cabbage trees."
In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research.
Sir Ernest Marsden was an English-New Zealand physicist. He is recognised internationally for his contributions to science while working under Ernest Rutherford, which led to the discovery of new theories on the structure of the atom. In Marsden's later work in New Zealand, he became a significant member of the scientific community, while maintaining close links to the United Kingdom.
GNS Science, officially registered as the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. It focuses on geology, geophysics, and nuclear science.
The Brunner Mine disaster happened at 9:30 am on Thursday 26 March 1896, when an explosion deep in the Brunner Mine, in the West Coast region of New Zealand, killed all 65 miners below ground. The Brunner Mine disaster is the deadliest mining disaster in New Zealand's history.
Mangahao Power Station is a hydroelectric power station near the town of Shannon, New Zealand. After being delayed by war, access road construction and foundation testing was started by late 1919 and the station opened in November 1924. It makes use of the Mangahao River, through a series of tunnels and pipelines totalling 4.8 kilometers in the Tararua Ranges. It is jointly owned and operated by Todd Energy and King Country Energy.
The New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme (NZARP) was a research programme that operated a permanent research facility in Antarctica from 1959 to 1996. It was created by the Geophysics Division of New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), originally based in Wellington. The programme promoted research in geochemistry, zoology, geology, botany, meteorology, and limnology.
Sir Algernon Phillips Withiel Thomas was a New Zealand university professor, geologist, biologist and educationalist. He was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England in 1857 and died in Auckland, New Zealand in 1937. He is best known for his early research (1880–83) into the life cycle of the sheep liver fluke, a discovery he shared with the German zoologist Rudolf Leuckart, his report on the eruption of Tarawera (1888) and his contribution to the development of New Zealand pedagogy.
Leila Agnes Sophie Hurle was a New Zealand principal and senior school inspector. She was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand on 5 June 1901. She is buried at Te Henui Cemetery in New Plymouth.
Francis Raymond Callaghan was a New Zealand teacher, agricultural instructor and scientific administrator.
New Zealand Soil Bureau was a division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research specializing in soil-related research and development. Originally formed as the 'soil survey group' of the 'Geological Survey,' they became the 'Soil Survey Division' in 1936 and 'Soil Bureau' in 1945. Established adjacent to Taita College on approximately 90 acres on the Eastern Hills of Lower Hutt north of Wellington, the foyer featured a large mural by Ernest Mervyn Taylor depicting a cloaked figure using a kō. Soil Bureau completed nationwide soil surveys of New Zealand.
Longburn railway station was a station in Longburn, on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand. The platform, which is across from the Fonterra Factory, remains but the structure has been demolished.
John Reader Hosking was a New Zealand natural products chemist.
A railway refreshment room is a catering facility attached to a railway station that was formerly common in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. They were opened in the 19th century to serve passengers when trains did not convey catering facilities, and thus served passengers en route. Refreshment rooms were similar to tearooms, and generally served a variety of hot drinks, pastries, cakes, and light meals. With the introduction of buffet and restaurant cars, their importance began to decline.
State Highway 31 (SH 31) is a New Zealand state highway in the Waikato region. It provides a link to the harbour town of Kawhia on the west coast of the North Island.
The Paeroa-Pokeno railway line or deviation in the upper North Island of New Zealand between Paeroa on the East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) and Pokeno on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) was a proposed route with construction started but abandoned. The proposal has been revived in recent years as part of a more direct route between Auckland and Tauranga.
Gillian Shirley Wratt is a New Zealand botanist and science administrator. She was the first woman director of the New Zealand Antarctic Programme (1992–1996) and made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Antarctica.
The Awaroa River is a short river in the Waikato District of New Zealand's North Island. It flows east from its source in the dunes near Karioitahi Beach and Lake Puketi, then south from Waiuku joining with the Aka Aka Stream before reaching the Waikato River in its tidal reaches close to Motutieke Island.
Rangiwahia is a small, elevated, farming settlement in the North Island, New Zealand, 26 km (16 mi) northeast of Kimbolton in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. It is in the Kiwitea valley, near the Whanahuia Range of the Ruahines. Due to its height and the nearby ranges, Rangiwahia has a mean annual rainfall of 1267mm; 309mm more than Feilding's.
Opaparailway station is a preserved station on the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line in New Zealand's North Island that closed in 1981. It is in the Hastings District of Hawke's Bay, 23.56 km (14.64 mi) south of Hastings city, in a census meshblock with a population of only 222 in 2018.
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