Appointing a professor: Reflections on filling the chair of organic chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1948

Abstract

Chemistry Departments, like other sections of Australian universities, long looked to Britain as the source of their senior appointees. None more so than the University of Sydney, where an attempt to fill the chair of organic chemistry in 1948 went badly awry. The selected candidate, an English chemist with a modest research record but qualities of leadership that were valued by the Head of School at Sydney, Professor Raymond Le Fvre, at first accepted but then declined the appointment. The main cause for his change of heart was the support in the university, which came to the attention of the popular press, for the appointment of an internal candidate. This was Dr Francis Lions, a graduate ..