| Smith, Henry George (1852-1924), chemist, was born on 26 July, 1852 at Littlebourne, Kent, England. He was educated at Wingham and tutored by Rev. James Midgley at Ickham, then worked as a painter, sign writer and paperhanger and as a plumber. His health suffered from field service with East Kent Rifles and he was advised to migrate to a warmer climate: with their three children, the Smiths arrived in Sydney in 1883. Between 1897 and 1921 Smith wrote about one hundred scientific publications, including three books with Baker-Research on the Eucalypts (1902; 2nd ed. 1920), Research on the Pines of Australia (1910) and Wood Fibres of Some Australian Timbers (1924). In their work on eucalypts and pines they controversially argued that the constancy of the oil composition of eucalypts and other genera should be given diagnostic rank with morphology in taxonomic determinations of species. Smith was also a pioneer teacher of organic chemistry which he taught for Sydney Technical College, conducting the classes in his own laboratory at the museum. After retiring form the museum in 1921 he joined his friend and colleague Professor John Read at the University of Sydney. Smith was active in the affairs of scientific bodies: he was president of the Royal Society of New South Wales (1913), the State branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (1922-23), the Sydney section of the Society of Chemical Industry (1916-17), the Sydney Technical College Chemical Society (1914) and of the chemistry section of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science at the 1923 meeting in Wellington, New Zealand. He was a member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, a foundation member of the Australian National Research Council, and was awarded the David Syme research prize and medal by The University of Melbourne in 1922. The Medal shall be awarded annually to a financial member of the RACI who, in the opinion of the Board of the RACI, has contributed most to the development of some branch of chemical science; this contribution will be judged by research work published or accepted for publication during the ten years immediately preceding the award. The major proportion of the work shall have been done in Australia or its Territories while the candidate was a member of the RACI. The Candidate shall be and have been a financial member of the RACI for at least three years. Nominations close 30th April and should be forwarded to The RACI National Office, 1/21 Vale Street, North Melbourne Vic 3051. It is recommended that nominations are submitted by email (awards@raci.org.au). Receipt by National Office of each nomination will be acknowledged. |