Harold Burnell Carter, BVSc, DVSc (Hon), FRSE, AM; (3 January 1910 – 27 February 2005) was an Australian

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

whose work in the middle decades of the twentieth century at the CSIR (now

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

) Australia's national scientific research organization laid foundations for the scientific understanding of the biology of

Merino The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the bree ...

fine wool upon which much of

Australia's Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by a ...

economy depended at the time. As an author, he has been collected by libraries.

Research

Carter's investigations were focussed upon the

histology Histology, also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...

of the wool fibre, its embryonic development and the genetic and environmental factors that caused variability in wool quality. His aim was to establish the necessary scientific knowledge by which the economic value of the Merino could be improved. He was a strong supporter of women's participation in this research. Burnell conceived the idea of an Australian national Sheep and Wool laboratory. In the early 1940s, he drafted a plan for such laboratories, which he developed in discussion with his senior colleagues Lionel B. Bull and

Ian Clunies Ross Sir William Ian Clunies Ross Order of St Michael and St George, CMG (22 February 189920 June 1959) was an Australian veterinary scientist. He has been described as the 'architect' of Australia's scientific boom, for his stewardship of the Commo ...

.''"The Ian Clunies Ross Animal Research Laboratory, Prospect,New South Wales"'', Ian W. Macdonald, Nature, 1960, vol 187, no.4742, (1960) pgs 980-982Minutes of Evidence to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia onday 20th June and Saturday 25th June 1949"Wool Biology Laboratory, Prospect, New South Wales" By Authority: L.F. Johnston, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra. F.3639 In 1945, as part of Australia's post War economic development plan, an Act of the Australian Parliament was passed for their construction ( Wool Uses Promotion Act, 1945). The laboratories, built at Prospect Hill near Sydney under Carter's supervision, were opened in 1953 as the "Sheep Biology Laboratory" of the

(renamed the "Ian Clunies Ross Animal Research Laboratory" in 1959 following the death of Clunies Ross, the Director of CSIRO). Following completion of the Sheep Biology Laboratory, Carter resigned from the CSIRO and took a position at the Animal Breeding Research Organisation in Edinburgh, Scotland. Harold Burnell Carter David Knight and Merino c 1965 Leeds

Harold Burnell Carter David Knight and Merino c 1965 Leeds

In the later decades of his life he devoted himself increasingly to primary historical scientific research on the origins of the Merino as a producer of fine wool. This work culminated in a major biography of

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

, a founder of Australia's Merino fine wool economy.

Honours

* Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(1960) * Honorary Degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney (1996) * Member of the Order of Australia (1999)

Major publications

* H.B. Carter "The Development and General Histology of the Follicle Group in the skin of the Merino" C.S.I.R. (Australia) Bulletin No. 164, 1-21, 1943 * H.B. Carter "His Majesty’s Spanish Flock" Angus & Robertson Ltd, 1964 * H.B. Carter "Sir Joseph Banks, 1743-1820" British Museum (Natural History), 1988

Bibliography

* R. Carter "A review of the life, work and influences of Harold Burnell Carter, August 2013" Files of the Royal Society of Edinburgh * H.B. Carter "Notes on the Development of Sheep and Wool Research in Australia 1934-1954" Files of the Royal Society of Edinburgh * Brad Collis "Fields of Discovery: Australia’s CSIRO" (CSIRO Publishing) 2002 * Charles Massy "The Australian Merino" (Random House) 2007 * "Wool Uses Promotion Act" Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1945 * Marjory Collar O’Dea "Ian Clunies Ross a biography" (Hyland House, Melbourne) 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Harold Burnell Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Australian scientists Australian biographers 1910 births 2005 deaths Members of the Order of Australia