The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is a now-defunct government science agency in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, founded in 1926 and broken into

Crown Research Institute In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research. Crown Research Institutes date from 1992, with most formed out of parts of the former Department of Scientific and Indus ...

s in 1992.

Foundation

DSIR was founded in 1926 by

Ernest Marsden Sir Ernest Marsden (19 February 1889 – 15 December 1970) 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 ...

after calls from

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...

for government to support education and research and on the back of the Imperial Economic Conference in London in October and November 1923, when various colonies discussed setting up such departments. It initially received funding from sources such as the

Empire Marketing Board The Empire Marketing Board was formed in May 1926 by the Colonial Secretary Leo Amery to promote intra-Empire trade and to persuade consumers to 'Buy Empire'. It was established as a substitute for tariff reform and protectionist legislation and ...

. The initial plans also included a new agricultural college, to be jointly founded by

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and Victoria University Colleges,

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

was chosen as the site for this and it grew to become

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

Structure

DSIR initially had five divisions: * Grasslands in

* Plant Diseases in

* Entomology, attached to the Cawthron Institute in Nelson * Soil Survey (later Soil Bureau) in

Taita Taita may refer to: * Taita people, a Bantu ethnic group in Kenya * Taita language, a Bantu language *Taitā, New Zealand, a suburb of Lower Hutt City * Taita Hills, a mountain range in Kenya * Taita Cushitic languages, an extinct pair of Afro-Asi ...

* Agronomy (later Crop Research Division) in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

* Geophysics Division from 1951 The later Antarctic Division became Antarctica New Zealand in 1996.

List of directors-general

The following is a list of Directors-General (Chief Executive) of DSIR: *

- 1926 to 1947 * Frank Callaghan - 1947 to 1953 * Bill Hamilton - 1953 to 1971 * Eddie Robertson - 1971 to 1980 * Bruce Miller - 1980 to 1984 * Jim Ellis - 1984 to 1989 * Mike Collins - 1989 to 1994

Dissolution

Reconstituted into initially 10 semi-independent entities called

s by the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, with some further consolidation since.

References

External links

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
entry in the 1966 edition of the ''Encyclopaedia of New Zealand'' {{Authority control 1926 establishments in New Zealand 1992 disestablishments in New Zealand Scientific organisations based in New Zealand Former government agencies of New Zealand