Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Zealand)

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]

It was reconstituted into 10 semi-independent entities called Crown Research Institutes by the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, with some further consolidation since.^[6]

DSIR initially had five divisions:^[7]

• Grasslands in Palmerston North
• Plant Diseases in Auckland
• Entomology, attached to the Cawthron Institute in Nelson
• Soil Survey (later Soil Bureau) in Taita
• Agronomy (later Crop Research Division) in Lincoln

The Grasslands Division originally included the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute, which became the Fonterra Research and Development Centre in 2001.^[8]

The Geophysics Division was established in 1951.^[9]

The Antarctic Division was established in 1959^[10] and became Antarctica New Zealand in 1996.^[11]

The directors-general (chief executives) of DSIR were:^[12]

• Ernest Marsden – 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

• Category:People associated with Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Zealand) (75)