The
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (
CSIRO) is the national government body for scientific research in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It was founded in 1926 originally as the Advisory Council of Science and Industry.
Research highlights include the invention of
atomic absorption spectroscopyAtomic absorption spectroscopy is a spectroanalytical procedure for the qualitative and quantitative determination of chemical elements employing the absorption of optical radiation by free atoms in the gaseous state. In analytical chemistry the technique is used for determining the concentration...
, development of the first
polymer banknotePolymer banknotes were developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia , Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and The University of Melbourne and were first issued as currency in Australia in 1988. These banknotes are made from the polymer biaxially-oriented polypropylene ...
, the invention of
Wi-FiWi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
technology, the invention of the insect repellent in
AerogardAerogard is an Australian brand of outdoor insect repellent, that is applied directly to the skin.It comes in a variety of application types, including aerosol sprays, bottled creams and roll-ons....
and the introduction of a series of biological controls into Australia, such as the introduction of
MyxomatosisMyxomatosis is a disease that affects rabbits and is caused by the Myxoma virus. It was first observed in Uruguay in laboratory rabbits in the late 19th century. It was introduced into Australia in 1950 in an attempt to control the rabbit population...
and Rabbit calicivirus which causes
rabbit haemorrhagic diseaseRabbit haemorrhagic disease , also known as rabbit calicivirus disease or viral haemorrhagic disease , is a highly infectious and often fatal disease that affects wild and domestic rabbits of the species Oryctolagus cuniculus...
for the control of
rabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
populations. CSIRO's research into ICT technologies has resulted in advances such as the Panoptic Search Engine (now known as
FunnelbackFunnelback is both an enterprise search engine and the name of the company selling the technology. Funnelback is used by many Australian universities and government organisations to search for information on their websites, intranets, file-shares and databases.- History :Funnelback was originally...
) and
AnnodexAnnodex is a digital media format developed by CSIRO to provide annotation and indexing of continuous media, such as audio and video.It is based on the Ogg container format, with an XML language called CMML providing additional metadata...
.
In October 2005 the journal
NatureNature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
announced that CSIRO scientists had developed near-perfect rubber from
resilinResilin is an elastomeric protein found in many insects. The protein was first discovered by Torkel Weis-Fogh in the locust wing-hinge. As of 2005 it is the most efficient elastic protein known . The elastic efficiency of the resilin isolated from locust tendon has been reported to be 97 %...
, the elastic protein which gives fleas their jumping ability and helps insects fly. On 19 August 2005, CSIRO and UTD (University of Texas at Dallas) announced they were able to make transparent
carbon nanotubeCarbon nanotubes are allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure. Nanotubes have been constructed with length-to-diameter ratio of up to 132,000,000:1, significantly larger than for any other material...
sheets that will bring carbon nanotube products to the masses.
Research groups and initiatives
Employing over 6,600 staff, CSIRO maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and biological control research stations in
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The primary roles of CSIRO include contributing to meeting the objectives and responsibilities of the Australian Federal Government and providing new ways to benefit the Australian community and the economic and social performance of a number of industry sectors through research and development.
Research undertaken by CSIRO is divided into operational 'Divisions'. As at September 2010, these divisions are:
- Astronomy and Space Science (including the Australia Telescope National Facility
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 's radio astronomy observatories are collectively known as the Australia Telescope National Facility , with the facility supporting Australia's research in radio astronomy....
)
- Earth Science and Resource Engineering
- Energy Technology
- Food and Nutritional Sciences
- ICT Centre
- Land and Water
- Livestock Industries
- Marine and Atmospheric Research
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research is one of the currently c.20 Research Divisions of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's largest government-supported research agency.-About CMAR:...
- Materials Science and Engineering (including former Molecular and Health Technologies)
- Mathematics, Informatics and Statistics
- Process Science and Engineering
- Plant Industry
- Ecosystems Sciences (including Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
)
In 2007, the divisions of Industrial Physics and Manufacturing and Materials Technology merged to form a new division, Materials Science and Engineering. On 1 July 2010, the Materials Science and Engineering division then merged with Molecular and Health Technologies to form a new division, also called Materials Science and Engineering, led by Dr Calum Drummond.
In addition, CSIRO is a participant in a number of joint ventures, including:
- Ensis — forestry and forest products, with New Zealand's Forestry research organisation named Scion
- Food Science Australia — with the Victorian Government (known as "CSIRO Division of Food and Nutritional Sciences" as of 1 July 2009)
- The Australian e-Health Research Centre — with the Queensland Government
"Flagship" initiative
The CSIRO "Flagship" initiative was designed to integrate, focus and direct national scientific resources. In May 2005, the government announced the launch of CSIRO's $97 million Flagship Collaboration Fund, which is intended to encourage cooperative research between universities, CSIRO and other research agencies.
, CSIRO supported the following 9 "Flagships":
- Climate Adaptation
- Energy Transformed
- Food Futures
- Light Metals
- Minerals Down Under
- Future Manufacturing
- Preventative Health
- Water for a Healthy Country
- Wealth from Oceans
- Sustainable Agriculture
In April 2007, funding for a new Flagship was announced by the Federal government. It will be investigating the effects of Climate Change.
The Air Quality Modelling and Dispersion Team
CSIRO's Air Quality Modelling and Dispersion Team is a part of the Marine and Atmospheric Research division.
Some of the widely used air quality dispersion models developed by CSIRO are:
- TAPM
- LADM
- AUSPLUME
- AUSPUFF
- DISPMOD
The "Australian Air Quality Forecasting System" is provided jointly by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO. The Bureau of Meteorology generates the high resolution weather forecasts and CSIRO has created computer models to calculate pollution levels.
History
A precursor to CSIRO, the Advisory Council of Science and Industry, was established in 1916 at the initiative of Prime Minister
Billy HughesWilliam Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....
. However, the Advisory Council struggled with insufficient funding during the First World War. In 1920 the Council was renamed the "Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry", and was led by
George Handley KnibbsSir George Handley "The Knibb" Knibbs CMG was an Australian scientist, the first Commonwealth Statistician and the first director of the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry, predecessor to the CSIRO....
(1921–26), but continued to struggle financially.
In 1926
The Science and Industry Research Act replaced the Institute with the 'Council for Scientific and Industrial Research' (CSIR). The CSIR was structured to represent the federal structure of Australian government, and had state-level committees and a central council. As well as this improved structure, the CSIR benefited from strong bureaucratic management under
George JuliusSir George Alfred Julius was the founder of Julius Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd and Automatic Totalisators Ltd, and invented the world's first automatic totalisator.-Early years:...
,
David RivettSir David Rivett, KCMG was an Australian chemist and science administrator.Rivett was born at Port Esperance, Tasmania, Australia. He studied at Wesley College in Melbourne and the University of Melbourne, where he was a member of Queen's College, obtaining a BSc in 1906 and a DSc in 1913...
, and Arnold Richardson. CSIR research focussed on primary and secondary industries. Early in its existence, it established divisions studying animal health and animal nutrition. After the depression, the CSIR extended into secondary industries such as manufacturing.
CSIRO today has expanded into a wider range of scientific inquiry. This expansion began with the establishment of CSIRO in 1949 which, as well as a name change, reconstituted the organisation and its administrative structure. Under
Ian Clunies RossSir Ian Clunies Ross, CMG is described as the 'architect' of Australia's scientific boom, for his stewardship of Australia's scientific organisation the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - CSIRO.-Family:...
as chairman, CSIRO pursued new areas such as radioastronomy and industrial chemistry.
Notable Inventions
Notable inventions and breakthroughs by CSIRO include:
- A4 DSP chip
- Aerogard
Aerogard is an Australian brand of outdoor insect repellent, that is applied directly to the skin.It comes in a variety of application types, including aerosol sprays, bottled creams and roll-ons....
, insect repellent
- Atomic absorption spectroscopy
Atomic absorption spectroscopy is a spectroanalytical procedure for the qualitative and quantitative determination of chemical elements employing the absorption of optical radiation by free atoms in the gaseous state. In analytical chemistry the technique is used for determining the concentration...
- Biological control of Salvinia
Salvinia, a genus in the family Salviniaceae, is a floating fern named in honor of Antonio Maria Salvini, a 17th Century Italian scientist. The genus was published by Séguier, in Pl. Veron. 3: 52. 1754. About ten species exist....
- Gene shears
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
- Development of Linola
Linola is the trademark name of solin, a mutant strain of flax developed in the early 1990s by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation...
(a flaxFlax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
variety with low alpha-linolenic acidα-Linolenic acid is an organic compound found in many common vegetable oils. In terms of its structure, it is named all-cis-9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid. In physiological literature, it is given the name 18:3 ....
content) with a longer life used as a stockfeed
- Distance measuring equipment
Distance measuring equipment is a transponder-based radio navigation technology that measures distance by timing the propagation delay of VHF or UHF radio signals....
(DME) used for aviation navigation
- Parkes Radio Telescope
The Parkes Observatory is a radio telescope observatory, 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It was one of several radio antennas used to receive live, televised images of the Apollo 11 moon landing on 20 July 1969....
- Microwave landing system
A microwave landing system is an all-weather, precision landing system originally intended to replace or supplement instrument landing systems...
, a microwave approach and landing system for aircraft
- Polymer banknote
Polymer banknotes were developed by the Reserve Bank of Australia , Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and The University of Melbourne and were first issued as currency in Australia in 1988. These banknotes are made from the polymer biaxially-oriented polypropylene ...
- Relenza flu drug
- 'Softly' woolens detergent
- X-ray phase contrast imaging
- Use of myxomatosis
Myxomatosis is a disease that affects rabbits and is caused by the Myxoma virus. It was first observed in Uruguay in laboratory rabbits in the late 19th century. It was introduced into Australia in 1950 in an attempt to control the rabbit population...
and calicivirus to control rabbit numbers
- The permanent pleat for fabrics
- Wi-Fi
Historic research
CSIRO owned the first
computerA computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
in Australia,
CSIRACCSIRAC , originally known as CSIR Mk 1, was Australia's first digital computer, and the fourth stored program computer in the world. It was first to play digital music and is one of only a few surviving first-generation computers .The CSIRAC was constructed by a team led by Trevor Pearcey and...
, built as part of a project began in the Sydney Radiophysics Laboratory in 1947. The CSIR Mk 1 ran its first program in 1949, the fifth electronic computer in the world. It was over 1000 times faster than the mechanical calculators available at the time. It was decommissioned in 1955 and recommissioned in Melbourne as CSIRAC in 1956 as a general purpose computing machine used by over 700 projects until 1964. The CSIRAC is the only surviving first-generation computer in the world.
Between 1965 and 1985, Dr.
George BornemisszaGeorge Francis Bornemissza is a Hungarian-born entomologist and ecologist. He studied science at the University of Budapest before obtaining his PhD in zoology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria in 1950. At the end of that year he emigrated to Australia...
of CSIRO's Division of Entomology founded and led the
Australian Dung Beetle ProjectThe Australian Dung Beetle Project , conceived and led by Dr. George Bornemissza, of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation , was an international scientific research and biological control project with the primary goal to introduce foreign species of dung beetle to...
. Dr. Bornemissza, upon settling in Australia from
HungaryHungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in 1951, noticed that the pastureland was covered in dry cattle dung pads which did not seem to be recycled into the soil and caused areas of rank pasture that was unpalatable to the cattle. He proposed that the reason for this was that native Australian dung beetles, which had co-evolved alongside the marsupials (which produce dung very different in its composition from cattle), were not adapted to utilise cattle dung for their nutrition and breeding, since cattle had only relatively recently been introduced to the continent in the 1880s. The Australian Dung Beetle Project therefore, sought to introduce species of dung beetle from South Africa and Europe (which had co-evolved alongside bovids) in order to improve the fertility and quality of cattle pastures. 23 species were successfully introduced throughout the duration of the project and also had the effect of reducing the pestilent bush fly population by 90%..
Domain name
CSIRO was the first Australian organisation to start using the internet, and as such was free to register the
second-level domainIn the Domain Name System hierarchy, a second-level domain is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain . For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD....
csiro.au (as opposed to csiro.org.au or csiro.com.au). Guidelines were introduced in 1996 to regulate the use of the
.au.au is the Internet country code top-level domain for Australia.-History:The domain name was originally allocated by Jon Postel, operator of IANA to Kevin Robert Elz of Melbourne University in 1986. After an approximately five year process in the 1990s, the Internet industry created a self...
domain.
Chief Executives
| Chief Executive |
Period in office |
| Albert Rivett |
1 January 1927 – 31 December 1945 |
| Arnold Richardson Arnold W. Richardson is a Canadian curler. He played third for the "World famous Richardsons", which won four Briers and four World Curling Championships....
|
1 January 1946 – 18 April 1949 |
| Frederick White |
19 April 1949 – 13 December 1956 |
| Stewart Bastow |
1 January 1957 – 30 June 1959 |
| No designated chief executive |
1 July 1959 – 4 December 1986 |
| Keith Boardman (acting) |
5 December 1986 – 4 March 1987 |
| Keith Boardman |
5 March 1987 – 4 March 1990 |
| John Stocker John Wilcox Stocker AO is an Australian immunologist and the former Chairman of the Board of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation , the national government body for scientific research in Australia...
|
5 March 1990 – 4 March 1995 |
| Roy Green (acting) |
5 March 1995 – 20 July 1995 |
| Roy Green |
21 July 1995 – 2 January 1996 |
| Roy Green (acting) |
3 January 1996 – 4 February 1996 |
| Malcolm McIntosh |
5 February 1996 – 7 February 2000 |
| Colin Adam (acting) |
7 February 2000 – 14 January 2001 |
| Geoff Garrett |
15 January 2001 – 31 December 2008 |
| Megan Clark Megan Clark is the current Chief Executive of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation . She is an ex officio member of the Prime Ministers Science Engineering and Innovation Council ,-References:...
|
January 2009 |
Diet book
In 2005 the organisation also gained worldwide attention (and criticism) for publishing and promoting the
Total Wellbeing Diet book which features a high-
proteinProteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
, low-
carbohydrateA carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
dietDieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight...
. The book has sold over half a million copies in Australia and over 100,000 overseas but was criticised in an editorial by
NatureNature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
for giving scientific credence to a "fashionable" diet book sponsored by meat and dairy industries.
802.11 patent
CSIRO has consistently maintained that it owns the rights to a key part of modern
IEEE 802.11IEEE 802.11 is a set of standards for implementing wireless local area network computer communication in the 2.4, 3.6 and 5 GHz frequency bands. They are created and maintained by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee . The base version of the standard IEEE 802.11-2007 has had subsequent...
protocols with . It declined to sign a Letter of Assurance that no lawsuits would be filed over its use in the 802.11n currently gaining acceptance. In late November 2007, CSIRO won a lawsuit against Buffalo Technology, with an injunction that Buffalo must stop supplying
AirStationBuffalo AirStation is the name given to a series of wireless LAN equipment sold by Buffalo Technology.- Products :* Residential gateways* Wireless LAN cards- Use with third party firmware :...
products that infringe on the 802.11 patent.
On 19 September 2008, the Federal Circuit ruled in Buffalo’s favour and remanded the case to the district court ruling that the district court’s Summary Judgement was insufficient on the merits of obviousness of CSIRO’s patent. Therefore, this case was to be tried again before the district court. In this connection Buffalo was hopeful that it would shortly be permitted to, once again, sell IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g compliant products in the United States. On 13 July 2009 Buffalo announced the settlement of the patent infringement action.
As of 23 April 2009, the CSIRO has obtained settlements from most of the other organisations involved, including
DellDell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
, Intel,
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
,
AsusASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...
,
Fujitsuis a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
, Hewlett Packard,
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
,
Toshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
,
NetgearNetgear is a U.S. manufacturer of computer networking equipment and other computer hardware....
,
D-LinkD-Link Corporation was founded in June 1986 in Taipei as Datex Systems Inc. It began as a network adapter vendor and has gone on to become a designer, developer, and manufacturer of networking solutions for both the consumer and business markets.In 2007, it was the leading networking company in...
,
BelkinBelkin International, Inc., is a Californian manufacturer of computer hardware that specializes in connectivity devices, headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California...
,
SMC-Technology:* Secure multiparty computation, a cryptography problem* Secure Managed Client, a centrally managed discless solution for PCs* SMC connector, used in radio-frequency circuits* Sliding mode control* Self-modifying code* SmartMedia Card...
, Accton and
3Com3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
.
See also
- Australia Telescope National Facility
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation 's radio astronomy observatories are collectively known as the Australia Telescope National Facility , with the facility supporting Australia's research in radio astronomy....
- Australian Animal Health Laboratory
The Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong, Victoria, Australia is a high security laboratory, run by the CSIRO for exotic animal disease diagnosis and research.It opened in 1985 costing $185 million.-External links:* * *...
- Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme
The Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme , a combination of the former Australian bird banding and bat banding schemes, is managed by the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australia.-History:...
- Australian Dung Beetle Project
The Australian Dung Beetle Project , conceived and led by Dr. George Bornemissza, of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation , was an international scientific research and biological control project with the primary goal to introduce foreign species of dung beetle to...
- Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs)
Cooperative Research Centres are key bodies for Australian scientific research. The Cooperative Research Centres Program was established in 1990 to enhance Australia's industrial, commercial and economic growth through the development of sustained, user-driven, cooperative public-private research...
- CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research is one of the currently c.20 Research Divisions of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia's largest government-supported research agency.-About CMAR:...
- CSIRO Publishing
CSIRO PUBLISHING is an Australian-based science and technology publisher. CSIRO PUBLISHING is the publishing branch of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. They cover a range of scientific disciplines including agriculture, chemistry, plant and animal sciences, natural...
- Funnelback
Funnelback is both an enterprise search engine and the name of the company selling the technology. Funnelback is used by many Australian universities and government organisations to search for information on their websites, intranets, file-shares and databases.- History :Funnelback was originally...
- George Bornemissza
George Francis Bornemissza is a Hungarian-born entomologist and ecologist. He studied science at the University of Budapest before obtaining his PhD in zoology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria in 1950. At the end of that year he emigrated to Australia...
- Peter Rathjen
Peter David Rathjen is an Australian scientist and medical researcher internationally recognised in stem cell science....
- Australian Space Research Institute
The Australian Space Research Institute came about in the early 1990s as the result of a merger between the AUSROC Launch Vehicle Development Group at Monash University in Melbourne and the Australian Space Engineering Research Association ....
External links