From the RACI President
In July 1916, David Orme Masson and Charles Edward Fawsitt convened a meeting of leading chemists in Sydney to support the formation of an Australian national body for chemists. Six months later a draft constitution in the five mainland states was established. Inaugural meetings were held in September 1917 by state branches in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. These state branches, coordinated by a central council, became the Australian Chemical Institute (ACI), with 237 founding members. The Institute received its Royal Charter in 1932, becoming the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI).
The RACI is now 100 years old and it has come a long way since its inception. There are now eight state and territorial branches and 14 Divisions (sub-disciplinary entities) comprising the Institute.
2017 will be a big year for the RACI. The highlight of the year will be the Centenary Congress to be held in Melbourne 23rd to 28th July 2017. This will be the largest chemistry conference organized in Australia and brings together all Divisions of the RACI, plus nine other major International conferences. The logistics for this conference are astounding, around 3000 attendees and well in excess of 3000 abstracts, both records for our National Congress.
Contemporary life is very complex, but the RACI remains the dedicated qualifying body for professional chemists promoting the chemical sciences. The RACI is dynamic and responsive to the emerging needs of the profession and the community.
The 100th birthday of the RACI provides a great opportunity to illustrate its origins and core membership activities, and to describe the views of its members and the impact of chemistry and chemical technology on our world.
Since 1917 there have been major inputs from members of the RACI towards advancement of knowledge, education, applications and promotion of chemistry. The collection of chemists compiled here by the Royal Society of Chemistry allows the opportunity for readers to explore these talented scientists’ achievements.
Professor Peter Junk
President, RACI
Read the collection now
Browse the list of authors below
Spanning more than 100 years, the cross-journal collection features 100 articles that highlight the excellence and breadth of research achievements across the chemical sciences, and it includes contributions from Royal Society of Chemistry authors with close connections to the RACI, as well as a small selection of highly-cited articles from the journal PCCP, for which the RACI is a co-owning society.
The collection includes the authors:
