26 Facts About CSIRO

Notable developments by CSIRO have included the invention of atomic absorption spectroscopy, essential components of Wi-Fi technology, development of the first commercially successful polymer banknote, the invention of the insect repellent in Aerogard and the introduction of a series of biological controls into Australia, such as the introduction of myxomatosis and rabbit calicivirus for the control of rabbit populations.

CSIRO is governed by a board appointed by the Australian Government, currently chaired by David Thodey.

CSIRO is structured into Research Business Units, National Facilities and Collections, and Services.

CSIRO manages national research facilities and scientific infrastructure on behalf of the nation to assist with the delivery of research.

CSIRO manages a number of collections of animal and plant specimens that contribute to national and international biological knowledge.

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Under Ian Clunies Ross as chairman, CSIRO pursued new areas such as radio astronomy and industrial chemistry.

CSIRO still operates under the provisions of the 1949 Act in a wide range of scientific inquiry.

Since 1949 CSIRO has expanded its activities to almost every field of primary, secondary and tertiary industry, including the environment, human nutrition, conservation, urban and rural planning, and water.

CSIRO had a pioneering role in the scientific discovery of the universe through radio "eyes".

CSIRO owned the first computer in Australia, CSIRAC, built as part of a project began in the Sydney Radiophysics Laboratory in 1947.

CSIRO proposed that the reason for this was that native Australian dung beetles, which had co-evolved alongside the marsupials, were not adapted to utilise cattle dung for their nutrition and breeding since cattle had only relatively recently been introduced to the continent in the 1880s.

CSIRO was the first Australian organisation to start using the Internet and was able to register the second-level domain csiro.

From 1 July 1959 to 4 December 1986 CSIRO had no chief executive; the chairman undertook both functions.

In 1986, when the Australian Government changed the structure of CSIRO to include a board of non-executive members plus the chief executive to lead CSIRO, the roles changed.

In 2005 the CSIRO gained worldwide attention, including some criticism, for promoting a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet of their own creation called Total Wellbeing Diet.

CSIRO did not participate directly in the standards process, however David Skellern was an active participant as secretary of the Working Group, and representative of Radiata.

Controversy over the CSIRO patent arose in 2006 after the organisation won an injunction against Buffalo Technology in an infringement suit filed in Federal Court in the Eastern District of Texas.

On 14 June 2012, the CSIRO inventors received the European Patent Office European Inventor Award, in the category of "Non-European Countries".

CSIRO later posted on his website a document detailing the text that CSIRO management demanded be deleted; by itself, this document forms a coherent set of statements criticising emissions trading without any additional wording needed.

On 11 April 2013, the Sydney Morning Herald ran a story on how CSIRO had "duped" the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant Novartis into purchasing an anti-counterfeit technology for its vials of injectable Voltaren.

CSIRO has since conducted a full review of the allegations and found no evidence to support them.

Former CSIRO employees started to surface with experiences of workplace bullying and other unreasonable behaviour by current and former CSIRO staff members.

CSIRO took the allegations seriously and responded to the articles on a number of occasions.

Post the Pearce Report, CSIRO overhauled its relevant policies and put in place training and whistleblower procedures to address the situation.

CSIRO has been the target of successive funding cuts under the current Liberal government, starting with cuts targeting climate science research initiated by Tony Abbott.

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In 2015, Cisco Systems filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against CSIRO, claiming that the colours and style were too similar.