MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION
MS 169
BROWN, I (1917-87)
Ian Brown was born on 28 May 1917 in North Adelaide “Konetta” Nursing Home.
His parents, Gilbert Brown and Marie Brown (nee Simpson) were both doctors who
had emigrated from England. He attended St Peters College in Adelaide from 1926-
35, where he demonstrated a keen interest in chemistry. He started a Bachelor of
Science at the University of Adelaide in 1936. In two separate accidents in 1936
he
fractured his leg and lost a finger from each hand (this was to make him
medically
unfit for fighting forces during World War II). He received his Bachelor of
Science
with Honours in organic chemistry in 1940.
>From 28 January to 5 July 1941 he was Assistant Chemist at the Birkenhead
Laboratory. He then went to Beckers Pty Ltd until 16 March 1942 as an Assistant
Chemist. He left this position for health reasons and joined the CSIRO where he
was
to stay until his retirement on 31 August 1978. He started at the CSIRO Animal
Nutrition Laboratory in Adelaide and in July 1942 moved to the CSIRO Division of
Industrial Chemistry at Fishermans Bend, Melbourne. While at the CSIRO he did
research on ethylene, furfural, thermodynamic properties of liquid mixtures and
methods of separation of liquids.
He was married to Gwen Marjorie Robertson on 12 November 1943 and they had two
children, Richard and Kris. He lectured briefly on thermodynamics at Swinburne
College in 1953 and 1955 to final year chemical engineering students. He
received his
Doctorate of Science in May 1966. He was an active member of several groups,
including the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He died on 31 August 1987.
169/1 1-8. CSIR/CSIRO Division of Industrial Chemistry. Chemical
Engineering Section. Monthly Reports
1 August-September 1943 - December 1944
2 January - December 1945
3 January - December 1946
4 January - December 1947
5 January - December 1948 and “Liquid-vapour equilibria and the
molecular structure of the liquid components”
6 January - December 1949 and report on a study of the surface
tension of binary liquid mixtures, January 1950
7 January 1950 - January 1951 and report on predicted and observed
excess free energies for non-polar systems, January 1951
8 February - December 1951
9-15. CSIRO. Division of Industrial Chemistry. Physical
Chemistry Section. Monthly Reports
9 January - December 1952, and several technical reports
10 April - December 1953
11 January 1954 - January 1955
12 January - December 1955
13 January - November 1956
14 December 1956 - November 1957
15 December 1957 - September 1958
16-22. CSIRO. Division of Physical Chemistry. Fluids Section.
Monthly Reports
16 January - November 1959
17 December 1959 - November 1960
18 December 1960 - November 1961
19 December 1961 - November 1962
20 December 1962 - November 1963
21 December 1964 - November 1965
22 December 1965 - November 1966
23 Reports on ethylene plants, purification of salt from the Pink
Lakes of Victoria, laboratory notes (handwritten) October 1942 -
July 1943
24 Report on physical properties of furfural water mixtures May 1947
- March 1948
25 Equipment design January 1944
26 Brown Coal Tar Project October 1956 - March 1960
27 Overseas report 1956
28 Overseas itinerary July - August 1971
29 Overseas itinerary 1973
30-31. Lecture notes and aids
30 Old lecture notes 1950
31 Swinburne Technical College lectures and notes 1952-55
169/2 1-2. Lecture notes and aids (cont’d)
1 Glass slides
2 Kodak slides
3-7. Laboratory material
3 Custom made laboratory equipment
4 Laboratory notes 1942
5 Laboratory notes, undated
6 Various graphs, undated
7 General laboratory notes and sketches
8-28. Perfluorocarbon Isomer Separation Work. Note: not all files
are dated. Work was largely carried out in the early 1970s
8 Report to IUPAC: Standard substances for density, refractive
index, surface tension 1970
9 A report on isomers of perfluoro - 3, 4, demethyl hexane and
technical report 1971. Also includes correspondence, references
and summary of results 1971
10 Letters to Douslin, Morris, Martin and Haines 1970-71
11 Correspondence, calculations and data 1970-76
12 Perfluorocarbon work and correspondence from T M Reed 1964-
78
13 Diagrams for perfluorocarbon paper II
14 Perfluorocarbon work - lecture notes
15 Perfluorocarbon work - slides for lecture
16 Separation of perfluorocarbon isomers papers I and II, 1972-82
17 Separation of perfluorocarbon isomers paper III
18 Perfluorocarbon paper I: preliminary data and write up
19 Perfluorocarbon paper II: preliminary preparation
20 Perfluorocarbon paper I: edited copy
21 Perfluorocarbon papers: preliminary work
22 Perfluorocarbon separation: preliminary data 1961
23 Properties of perfluorocarbon 1960
24 Data and details of perfluorocarbon work 1969-70
25 Information and tables on retention data 1975
26 Perfluorocarbon references ca 1981-82
27 Uncorrected data 1970
28 Corrected data 1971
169/3 1-5. Tables of Data
1 Data for experiments 1971
2 Books of data and tables 1937-76
3 Tables of physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons 1960-
66
4 Tables of physical and chemical properties of chemical
compounds 1955-73
5 Tables of data: heat transfer calculations 1943-53
6-14. Separation Science
6 Separation methods general (file) 1957-68
7 Liquid-vapour equilibria apparatus - blueprints, technical drawings
and photographs
8 Report and diagrams 1951-61
9 Distillation design 1955-60
10 Liquid vapour equilibrium systems data 1956-67
11 Gas chromatography and liquid vapour equilibria - notes, graphs
and tables 1954-63
12 Gas chromatography - graphs, calculations and correspondence
1962-78
13 Gas chromatography and spinning band - general file 1962-68
14 Spinning band distillation column - plans, graphs, notes and
calculations 1949-70
169/4 1-7. Separation science (cont’d)
1 Distillation - brown coal tar September 1955
2 Distillation equipment - blueprints and patents 1942-48
3 Displacement chromatography - notes and calculations 1967-70
4 High performance liquid chromatography - reports 1976-77
5 High performance liquid chromatography - notes and
correspondence 1966-78
6 Separation science (chromatography and distillation) - lectures
1949-64
7 Separation science - lectures 1962-67
8-10. Separation Science - Efficiency of Open Tubular Gas
Chromatographic Columns. Parts I and II
8 Early calculations for papers 1976-78
9 Computer printouts, graphs and notes for papers and draft
manuscript
10 8 bundles of computer punch cards and computer printout
169/5 1-8. Separation Science - Efficiency of Open Tubular Gas
Chromatographic Columns. Parts I and II (cont’d)
1 Calculations for papers 1977-78
2 Calculations and correspondence 1977-78
3 Calculations and notes for papers 1977-78
4 Rough drafts of papers 1977
5 Rough drafts and notes
6 Correspondence concerning papers 1978-79
7 Mailing list for reprints
8 Journal containing published papers Part I and II and copies from
publisher May 1979 p 265; July 1979 p 467
9-11. Reprints by IB
9 Reprints 1942-77
10 Papers presented for doctorate: 1 bound volume 1964
11 List of publications 1942-76
12-19. Correspondence
12 Official nature (general) 15 July 1957 - 12 May 1978
13 Retirement 15 July 1977 - 2 December 1980
14 Personal 1961-87
15 Correspondence with D A Brown 1985-88
16 General correspondence 1951-81
17 Correspondence with Professor J H Hildebrand 1971-81
18 Referees’ reports on papers by IB and F Smith 1975-77
19 Requests for reprints 1977-80
169/6 1-6. Memberships of Societies and Associations
1 Membership - general 1938-88
2 Standards Association 1972-79
3 IUPAC (Associate member) 1971-80
4 Committee: New laboratories at Clayton 1972-84
5 Kew Traffic Scheme 1978-84
6 Conference attendances 1981-84
7-25. Personal Papers
7 Birth certificate, baptism and confirmation 1917-31
8 Early handwriting 1924, school reports 1926-35, 21st birthday
present list and University of Adelaide Commemoration
programme 1940
9 Certificate of Marriage 1943
10 Medical records 1917-88
11 Legal matters 1958-78
12 Official passport 1956
13 Doctor of Science 1962-66
14 CV and job applications 1941-59
15 Salary 1944-79
16 Leave applications 1961-78
17 Retirement speech and card 1979
18 Press clippings (undated)
19 Obituaries and notes 1987
20 School and early photographs ca 1933-40
21 Technical photographs from CSIRO, mainly of equipment, some
with IB. Used in articles, etc.
22 Slides for papers
23 Photograph album presented to IB on retirement and containing
relevant photographs from CSIRO
24 Diaries 1977-86
25 1st issue of Divisional Magazine 1944
188 cm
MS 169 BROWN, IAN
MS 169 BROWN, IAN
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