Edward Simpson
SIMPSON, Edward Sydney BE, DSc, FCS. (1875-1939)
Simpson was born in Sydney and attended the University of Sydney from which he graduated, with a BE degree in mining and metallurgy, in 1895. He worked for two years as a research chemist and assayer before being appointed Government Mineralogist and Assayer and Chief Chemist to the Western Australian Mines Department at the young aged of 22. He was also responsible for the Geological Survey Laboratory.
When the University of Western Australia began teaching in 1913 he enrolled for the BSc course in geology, graduating in 1914 with first class honours. In 1917 he applied for entry into the university’s Doctor of Science programme and was awarded a doctorate in 1919 for his thesis, ‘The minerals of Western Australia’. He pioneered the use of laboratory techniques in the identification of minerals and was the first mineralogist from Western Australia to gain an international reputation. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Western Australia between 1902 and 1915, and a member of the Western Australian Munitions Committee from 1914 to 1919.
In 1922, in addition to his position as Government Mineralogist Simpson was appointed Government Analyst. He was responsible for combining the laboratories of the Government Analyst with those of the Geological Survey to form the Government Chemical Laboratories which he divided into three specialist sections, a structure which remained in placed for nearly 20 years.
Simpson was twice President of the Royal Society of Western Australia and was a member of the Senate of the University of Western Australia from 1920 to 1929. The mineral ‘simpsonite’ was named in his honour.
Simpson died in 1939 while he was preparing a monograph based on his doctoral thesis. It was edited by a colleague and published posthumously as The Minerals of Western Australia and is regarded as a scientific classic. In 1932 he published a comprehensive handbook "A Key to Mineral Groups, Species and Varieties".
Simpson produced numerous publications which include: 'Problems of water supply in Western Australia' Proc ANZAAS, Perth, 1926; and 'Contributions to mineralogy in Western Australia'
References:
JHSWA 12 16, 1927 30.
Battye 1, p.460;
WWA 1938 pp.460 61;
ADB 11, pp.610 11;
Glover/Bevan pp.111 14;
Spillman pp.136 37, 169 70
