Masson, David Orme, 1858-1937

David Orme Masson was born in 1858 in London. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a doctorate in 1884, and Gttingen. In 1880 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at University College, Bristol, returning to Edinburgh in 1882 to a research fellowship in chemistry. In 1886 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Melbourne, holding the chair until his retirement in 1923.

He played a crucial role in modernising and raising the status and quality of science at the University of Melbourne. Between 1911 and 1913, he served as president of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, and from 1916 to 1920 as inaugural chairman of the Advisory Council for Science and Industry. He co-founded (with Tannatt William Edgeworth David) the Australian National Research Council and the Australian Chemical Institute.

He actively assisted the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 (leader Douglas Mawson) and he was chairman of the committee responsible for the British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition, 1929-1931 (leader Sir Douglas Mawson). Masson was knighted in 1923 and died on 10 August 1937 in Melbourne.

From the guide to the David Orme Masson collection, 1911-1922, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)