Editing CSIRO (section)

===Historic research===
CSIRO had a pioneering role in the scientific discovery of the universe through radio "eyes". A team led by [[Paul Wild (Australian scientist)|Paul Wild]] built and operated (from 1948) the world's first solar radiospectrograph, and from 1967 the {{convert|3|km|mi|adj=mid|-diameter}} radioheliograph at Culgoora in New South Wales. For three decades, the Division of Radiophysics had a world-leading role in solar research, attracting prominent solar physicists from around the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csiro.au/news/ps47j |title=Dr John Paul Wild |publisher=CSIRO |date=16 May 2008 |access-date=22 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150125053338/http://www.csiro.au/news/ps47j |archive-date=25 January 2015  }}</ref>

CSIRO owned the first computer in Australia, [[CSIRAC]], built as part of a project began in the Sydney Radiophysics Laboratory in 1947. The CSIR Mk 1 ran its first program in 1949, the fifth electronic computer in the world. It was over 1,000 times faster than the mechanical calculators available at the time. It was decommissioned in 1955 and recommissioned in Melbourne as CSIRAC in 1956 as a general purpose computing machine used by over 700 projects until 1964.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csse.unimelb.edu.au/dept/about/csirac/ |title=CSIRAC |publisher=[[University of Melbourne]] |work=Department of Computer Science and Engineering |access-date=8 May 2006 |author1=Steven Pass |author2=David Hornsby |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227165717/http://www.csse.unimelb.edu.au/dept/about/csirac/ |archive-date=27 February 2015  }}</ref> The CSIRAC is the only surviving first-generation computer in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/csirac/ |title=Museum Victoria's CSIRAC information site|access-date=26 April 2008 }}</ref>

Between 1965 and 1985, [[George Bornemissza]] of CSIRO's Division of Entomology founded and led the [[Australian Dung Beetle Project]]. Bornemissza, upon settling in Australia from Hungary in 1951, noticed that the pastureland was covered in dry cattle dung pads which did not seem to be recycled into the soil and caused areas of rank pasture which were unpalatable to the cattle. He proposed that the reason for this was that native Australian dung beetles, which had co-evolved alongside the marsupials (which produce dung very different in its composition from cattle), 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. The Australian Dung Beetle Project sought, therefore, to introduce species of dung beetle from South Africa and Europe (which had co-evolved alongside bovids) in order to improve the fertility and quality of cattle pastures. Twenty-three species were successfully introduced throughout the duration of the project and also had the effect of reducing the pestilent bush fly population by 90%.<ref name="adbp">{{cite journal | author = Bornemissza G. F. | year = 1976 | title = The Australian dung beetle project 1965–1975 | journal = Australian Meat Research Committee Review | volume = 30 | pages = 1–30 }}</ref><!---Missylisa153, August 2009--->