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Sir Ian Clunies Ross (1899-1959) is described as the 'architect' of Australia's scientific boom, for his stewardship of Australia's scientific organisation the CSIRO.
Early career Clunies Ross was born William Ian Clunies Ross in Bathurst, New South Wales on February 22, 1899. His father's father, Robert Clunies Ross, was a brother of that John Clunies Ross who settled with his family and crew on Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1826-7 and proclaimed a kingdom. He was educated at Newington College and in 1917 he entered the University of Sydney, in the Agriculture Faculty, and transferred to Veterinary Science at the beginning of 1918, graduating with honours in 1920. In 1921, Clunies Ross was given a temporary lectureship in veterinary anatomy, the following year he was made a Fellow of The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, allowing him to a travel overseas. He spent a year working on animal parasites at the Molteno Institute for Parasitology in Cambridge and the School of Tropical Medicine in London. He also spent time in the United States, mainly in Texas and Louisiana, where he looked at methods of field control of parasitic diseases. When he returned to Sydney he set up a veterinary practice, lectured at the University and continued his own research on hydatid parasite (Echinococcus granulosus), the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica), and the dog-tick (Ixodes holocyclus). He developed an immunization for dogs to protect against the dog-tick. In 1926 Clunies Ross was appointed parasitologist to the newly established Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and was funded to continue research at the Sydney University Veterinary School. On October 6th 1927, Ian married Janet Carter. They had three sons: Anthony, Adrian and David. By mid-1931, three other researchers were working with him, and in November 1931 the team moved into CSIR's new McMaster Animal Health Laboratory, Clunies Ross was appointed as the Officer-in-Charge of the laboratory. In 1928, his thesis on the hydatid parasite was accepted by the University of Sydney for the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science. Work at the McMaster Laboratory on the control of sheep liver-fluke, made a significant improvement to animal heath and the returns from agriculture in the 1930s. Science administration
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