Dieter Erich Alexander Plate

Biography

Dieter Plate joined the CSIRO Meat Investigations Laboratory at Cannon Hill in Queensland in 1954 as a technical assistant while studying part-time for a Science Degree at the University of Queensland. After completing the degree in 1960, he took three years leave of absence from CSIRO to complete the Honours course in Physics at the University while working as a full-time demonstrator. He was awarded First-Class Honours in 1963 and successfully applied for an ‘Overseas Postgraduate Studentship’ with the CSIRO Division of Textile Industry.

In 1965, he went to Leeds University in England to study for a PhD in Textile Engineering and returned to Australia in 1968 to take up a position as a Research Scientist with the CSIRO Division of Textile Industry.

Research interests

His research interests included:

• weaving theory
• the removal of vegetable matter during processing
• the development of Sirospun, which produces worsted weaving yarn in a single step ‘ in the early 1980s
• the control of noise in textile processing
• the development of Siroclear, an optical sensing method for the detection and removal of contaminants such as vegetable matter and dark fibres from yarns while they are wound from a bobbin onto a cone (licensed to the Swiss company Loepfe Brothers Ltd).

In 1982, he was made Leader of the Division of Textile Industry’s Mechanical Processing Group and in 1988 he was promoted to Assistant Chief of the renamed Division of Wool Technology and Officer in Charge of the Geelong Laboratory. He retired from CSIRO in 1993.

Honours and awards

For his work in wool textile research, Dr Plate received a number of awards and honours, including:

Source

• Plate DE, 2009, Personal communication.