Professor Sir Geoffrey Badger
Papers 1938-1997

MSS 0011

Biographical Note

Sir Geoffrey Badger graduated MSc with first class honours in Organic Chemistry from Melbourne University in 1938 and then proceeded to the United Kingdom where he obtained the PhD from the University of London (1941) and the DSc from Glasgow University (1949).

He served as a Research Chemist in Imperial Chemical Industries in the United Kingdom from 1941-43. In 1943 he volunteered for the Royal Navy and became an Instructor Lieutenant. In 1946 he joined the University of Glasgow as an ICI Research Fellow.

He returned to Australia in 1949 to accept a position as Senior Lecturer in the University of Adelaide and became Reader (1951) and Professor of Organic Chemistry (1955).    He resigned in 1964 to become a Member of the Executive of CSIRO; but at the end of 1965 he was encouraged to return to Adelaide to become Deputy Vice-Chancellor. He was appointed Vice-Chancellor in March 1967 and completed a ten-year term in March 1977. He then became Research Professor of Organic Chemistry in the University of Adelaide. He retired from his Chair towards the end of 1979 to spend more time on his other activities. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of the University from the University of Adelaide in 1980.

Sir Geoffrey's personal research has been concentrated in the field of chemical  carcinogens, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic compounds. He is the author or joint author of more than two hundred papers and several books.

He has been elected to a number of scientific bodies. He is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry (1949), a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (1952), a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (1962), and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences (1978). He is also a Fellow of the Australian College of Education (1969) and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management (1974). He received the H.G. Smith Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1951, was Liversidge Lecturer for the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1956 and the ANZAAS Liversidge Lecturer in 1958.   He was Abbott Lecturer in 1964, R.K. Murphy Lecturer in 1965 and received the A.E. Leighton Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1971 and the W.D. Chapman Memorial Lecture and Medal of the Institution of Engineers in 1974. He was awarded the ANZAAS Medal (for service to the advancement of science) in 1981.

Sir Geoffrey has contributed in many ways to science and technology in Australia. He served as a member of the South Australian Committee of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for several years and was South Australian Chairman in 1957. He was President of the Institute in 1964. He has similarly served as a member of the Council of the Australian Academy of Science (1964-67), as Secretary (Physical Sciences) (1968-72) and as President (1974-78). He has served as President of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (1979-80), and presided at the 50th Congress in Adelaide. He was appointed a Member of the Australian Science and Technology Council (ASTEC) in 1976 and became Chairman in 1977. He became Chairman of the Technological Change Committee in 1981. He retired from ASTEC and the TCC in December 1982. In 1982 he was a member of the four-man committee which undertook an external review of the research and development activities of BHP and was appointed a non-executive director of Western Mining Corporation Holdings Ltd. in 1979.

Contents Listing

1. Biographical notes 1985. 1 p. (2 copies)

2. Reprints. May 1939-Dec. 1964. 10 cm. No. 1-176 [some numbers not received]

3. Text and slides of end-of-year lecture given to Chemistry I students. c1950-1977. 14 p. (text) and 2 boxes of slides. Includes text/cues of lectures given in 1960, 1967 and 1977.

4. Slides for lectures on Cancer and Annulene derivatives. c1964 and undated. 2 boxes.

5. Reports on study leave, tours and official visits. 1953-79. 2 cm.
[Study leave reports 1952-53, 1958-59; tours and visits as Vice-Chancellor in 1970 (S.E. Asia, U.K. and North America), 1973 (Fiji, New Zealand and U.K.), 1974 (6th Commonwealth Education Conference), 1975 (Indulkana), 1975 (USSR, China and South America), 1976 (New Zealand and Indonesia) and 1979 (USSR)]

6. List of publications. 1986. 17 p.
[Covers 1939-1980]

7. ASTEC Reports. 1977-83.
[Reports published by the Australian Science and Technology Council while Professor Badger was a member or Chairman]

8. Cassette tapes of speeches. 3 items.

• University of Adelaide centenary banquet, 1974
• Official opening of Radio 5UV, 1975
• Science Show report on OECD meeting on The Future of Research in Universities, 1980

9. Correspondence, addresses, lectures, articles and newspaper cuttings relating to Sir Geoffrey and/or The University of Adelaide [chronological files]. 1938, 1954-1990. 33 v.

10. Correspondence with A.P.Rowe (Vice-Chancellor of the University from 1948-1958) relating to Rowe's tenure at Adelaide and his relations with the academic community. 16 December 1972- 14 February 1973.
Together with a letter from Mrs. Rowe, 18 December 1976, following A.P.Rowe's death, and comments by Dr. V.A.Edgeloe, former Registrar of the University, on statements by Rowe (undated, assumed to be 1973). 8 items.
   
11. Interview of Sir Geoffrey by Prof. R.W. Crompton for the Australian Academy of Science's Video Histories of Australian Scientists program, 30 April 1997.
1 videocassette, duration 1 hour 2 min.

[presented by Sir Geoffrey 8 January 1998]