Views from the Bay
from the centre of New Zealand: pictures and observations
Archive for the ‘Science & Engineering’ Category
Finding the pony
20 Jun 2010I’ve just been listening to a child psychologist on national radio talking about optimists and pessimists. It reminded me of a management problem I faced at Cawthron Institute where I took rather a risk in order to communicate successfully.
The problem involved a young Ph.D. student from Japan. He had just discovered that his supervisor back [...]
A mystery donor
8 Jun 2010One day in the early 90s I got a telephone call from one of our clients in Christchurch. His Japanese wife had been working as an interpreter for a gentleman currently living in Christchurch who had expressed a great interest in visiting an organisation carrying out environmental research. He wondered whether the Cawthron Institute would [...]
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- Tags: Cawthron Institute, Kosuge
Prof T Kosuge, Cawthron Fellow
14 May 2010I spent an afternoon last week with Deirdre Mackay, who’s been commissioned to write the history of the Cawthron Institute. Lot’s of stuff is coming back to me, so get ready for a string of Cawthron stories.
It’s successful turnaround in the early 90s owes a lot to many different people. One of them celebrated his [...]
In March I read of the passing of Sir Ian Axford, a scientist who spent much of his working life outside New Zealand but nevertheless made a huge contribution to this country. I met him briefly when we invited him to present the annual “Cawthron Lecture” in 1996. It was the 75th anniversary of the [...]
This week there was a small item on page 3 of our local newspaper announcing that the four major players in New Zealand’s mussel industry have joined forces to create a new company, Spatco. The four companies involved are Wakatu Incorporation, Sealord (both Nelson-based), Sanford and Pacifica Seafoods. Spatco aims to take baby mussels grown [...]
Young Women in Science
31 Mar 2010Two of the many highlights from my time at Cawthron Institute were the successes of a couple of young women scientists in the prestigious UNESCO-L’Oreal “Young Women in Science” programme.
Encouraged by her mentor, Dr Lesley Rhodes, Dr Alison Haywood was the first of these in 2001. Much to everyone’s surprise and delight, she was one [...]
Whale strandings caused by aliens?
30 Dec 2009The other day we had news of a couple of whale strandings. The first of these occurred up north and, with the help of a huge team of volunteers, it was possible to save about two thirds of the pod. The second though occurred over on Farewell Spit in Golden Bay, a very remote [...]
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- Tags: algae bloom, Nelson, whale strandings
About this blog
This blog presents the images and observations of someone who has had a long and successful career, ranging from heavy engineering to environmental sciences, from paper machines to marine biology.
The digital revolution has enabled Graeme Robertson to devote much of his time to a rediscovered passion, photography. His images have won national competitions and been published in magazines and newspapers.
Photostream
Categories
- Nelson events (34)
- NZ Stories (45)
- Photographic (70)
- Science & Engineering (16)
Made me laugh
Made me think
Photography links
Science & Technology links
Travel links
Various blogs & directories
- Fireplaces: It really depends on what your looking for if you ask me, if your goal is to have an pleasing decor [...]
- CINZIA ANDREINI: SAREBBE MOLTO BELLO POTERLE VEDERE COSI DI PERSONA .................UN BACIO DALL'ITALIA TOSCANA [...]
- television fan: What point is it being black if you cannot get sunburnt. Sent from my iPhone 4G [...]
- Michael mensah brown: I WILL SURELY BE THERE. [...]
- Lexus GS: A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your sister. Sent from my iPhone 4G [...]