Books

Archibald Liversidge: Imperial Science under the Southern Cross

Roy MacLeod
Royal Society of New South Wales, in association with Sydney University Press
ISBN: 9781920898809

When Archibald Liversidge first arrived at Sydney University in 1872 as reader in geology and assistant in the laboratory he had about ten students and two rooms in the main building.  In 1874 he became professor of geology and mineralogy and by 1879 he had persuaded the senate to open a faculty of science.  He became its first dean in 1882. In 1880 he visited Europe as a trustee of the Australian Museum and his report helped to establish the Industrial, Technological and Sanitary Museum which formed the basis of the present Powerhouse Museum’s collection.  Liversidge also played a major role in the setting up of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science which held its first congress in 1888.

One of his greatest contributions was to science education.  He worked tirelessly to secure proper recognition of science in both secondary and tertiary education.  In the preface of his book, Professor MacLeod comments: “Liversidge remained confident that Australia’s path would follow the route of the `moving metropolis’, strengthened by the bonds that tied Australia to its British heritage.  In that heritage lay his life, and through that heritage, flowed the genius of imperial science in New South Wales.”

For anyone interested in Archibald Liversidge, his contribution to crystallography, mineral chemistry, chemical geology, strategic minerals policy and a wider field of colonial science.

About the author

Roy MacLeod is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the University of Sydney, and an Honorary Associate in the School of History and Philosophy of Science.  He was educated in history, the biochemical sciences, and the history of science at Harvard University (summa cum laude), in sociology at the London School of Economics, and in history and the history of science at Cambridge, where he took the PhD degree in 1967.

He is the author or editor of 22 books and about 120 articles in the social history of science, medicine and technology; military history, museum history, Australian and American history, European history; research policy, and the history of higher education.

To order your copy, please  do so through the online shop, or complete the MacLeod: Liversidge order form and return it to:

The Royal Society of NSW (Liversidge book)
PO Box 576
Crows Nest  NSW  1585
Australia

or contact the Society’s secretariat:

Phone: 61 2 9431 8691
Email: [email protected]