Watson, Eric Mervyn (1903 - 1971)

Born in 1903, probably in Western Australia, and died at Augusta, near Cape Leeuwin, W.A., on 7 September 1971.  

He majored in chemistry at the University of Western Australia and graduated with honours in 1925.  After several positions as an industrial chemist and temporary lectureships at the University of Adelaide and the University of Western Australia, he joined the staff of the Perth Technical College in 1929 and spent the rest of his working life with that institution.  Soon after that appointment he was awarded a Hackett Scholarship, which enabled him to work at a Ph.D. in organic chemistry.  

He made studies on the chemistry of some Western Australian plants, especially eucalypts, and published results in the J. Roy. Soc. West. Aust.  From the time of his return from London in 1933 he became increasingly involved in the teaching of pharmacy students, especially in improving their knowledge of organic chemistry and biochemistry.  Watson became an acknowledged authority on the training of chemists and pharmacists and was honoured by election to Fellowships of both the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the Pharmaceutical Society of Victoria. 

Dr Watson was recognized as an outstanding personality and an excellent teacher.  Unfortunately, a few years after becoming Head of the Chemistry Department of the Perth Technical College in 1946, he suffered a severe heart attack and had to curtail many of his former activities, he retired in 1963 and for the remainder of his life dwelt at Augusta, a small town near Cape Leeuwin, in the far southwest of the State.