Formed 1926 (1926) | Employees 2,000 in 1976 | |
Preceding agencies Geological Survey
Magnetic Survey
Meteorological Office
Hector Observatory
Samoan Scientific Service Dissolved April 1, 1992 (1992-04-01) Superseding agency 10 semi-independent Crown Research Institutes | ||
The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is a now-defunct government science agency in New Zealand, founded in 1926 and broken into Crown Research Institutes in 1992.
Contents
Foundation
DSIR was founded in 1926 by Ernest Marsden after calls from Ernest Rutherford 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 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.
Structure
DSIR initially had five divisions:
Dissolution
Reconstituted into initially 10 semi-independent entities called Crown Research Institutes by the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, with some further consolidation since.