The Australian Association of Scientific Workers (AASW) was formed in 1939 as a grassroots and industry-focussed alternative to the existing scientific societies. It was disbanded in 1949 as a result of political attacks in a climate of

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

hysteria. The association comprised a federal council as well as divisions in each of Australia's six states. Various subcommittees were set up to study various problems and provide practical solutions. One of these was the drugs subcommittee, which investigated the synthesis of drugs critical to the war effort, while the shipping routes whereby these drugs were imported were under threat. The association was also concerned with the transfer of scientific workers from wartime to peacetime projects once hostilities ceased, and encouraged debate on the social responsibility of science. The AAWS was suspected by

ASIO ''Asio'' is a genus of typical owls, or true owls, in the family Strigidae. This group has representatives over most of the planet, and the short-eared owl is one of the most widespread of all bird species, breeding in Europe, Asia, North Ameri ...

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

ties, resulting in at least one of its members (Sprigg) being placed under surveillance. The federal council's records are held by the Australian National University archives.

Members

Adrien Albert Adrien Albert (19 November 1907 – 29 December 1989) was a leading authority in the development of medicinal chemistry in Australia. Albert also authored many important books on chemistry, including one on selective toxicity. His father, Ja ...

, chemist (drugs subcommittee, 1939) *

Eric Ashby Eric Ashby, Baron Ashby, FRS (24 August 1904 – 22 October 1992) was a British botanist and educator. Born in Leytonstone in Essex, he was educated at the City of London School and the Royal College of Science, where he graduated with a ...

(later Baron Ashby), botanist *

Eric Burhop Eric Henry Stoneley Burhop, (31 January 191122 January 1980) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian. A graduate of the University of Melbourne, Burhop was awarded an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship to study at the Cavendish Laboratory unde ...

, physicist (founding member, 1939) * J. W. Legge, biochemist (founding member) * Alan Newton, surgeon * Kathleen Sherrard, geologist and paleontologist (founding member, 1939) *

Reg Sprigg Reginald Claude Sprigg (1 March 1919 – 2 December 1994) was an Australian geologist and conservationist.Keeling, J.L. and Hore, S.BDr R C Sprigg – Contributions to geology and insights into landscape evolution Geological Society of Austral ...

, geologist (secretary, 1943) *

Victor Trikojus Victor Martin "Trik" Trikojus (1902–1985) was an Australian professor of biochemistry. Originally published in ''Historical Records of Australian Science'', vol.6, no.4, 1987, p 519. He was the second professor and head of the School of Bio ...

, biochemist (founding member, chairman 1939–44, head of drugs subcommittee, 1940–1)

References

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Members

References

Further reading