Niwa Scientist Honoured for Life's Contribution to Water Research

Dr Max Gibbs received a lifetime achievement award through The Kudos - Hamilton Science Excellence Awards, aimed at putting a spotlight on those who've lent extraordinary services to science

Dr Max Gibbs began his five-decade career as a water scientist on Lake Taupo.

He's done the same job for 50 years and still loves it.

"Why wouldn't I?" asks Dr Max Gibbs, water scientist for Niwa.

"Just think about it, I get to travel to some of the most interesting places in New Zealand, sit in the middle of Lake Taupo or Wakatipu, and get paid for it."

Gibbs has just received a lifetime achievement award through The Kudos - Hamilton Science Excellence Awards, aimed at putting a spotlight on those who've lent extraordinary services to science.

Lake Taupo served as the training ground for Gibbs, who started his career as a chemical technician for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which later formed part of Niwa.

It was 1965 and he was paid an annual salary of $816.

"Originally I'd started working with pesticides and solvents, but I became unwell so wanted to move away from solvents and started working with water."

Five decades on he's travelled around the world several times with Niwa for water research and was even awarded an honorary PhD from the University of Waikato in 2010 for his work.

Gathering data to help other people was the most rewarding part.

"You can get satisfaction at all different levels in your studies and the satisfaction of actually discovering something new. Communicating that to others and seeing someone use that to advance science is very rewarding."

Another winner on the night was a man who's dedicated his mind to studying rats, possums and other threats to conservation. 

John Innes from Landcare Research led a team which discovered possums eat native birds and their eggs and young, and are not just vegetarians.

This revelation, published as a paper to the global conservation literature, led directly to an innovative experimental pest management programme.

The programme was sustained over eight years and produced evidence of the cause of kokako decline.

The innovation and entrepreneur award went to Natasha McGuire & Leon Spurrel, who developed a tool for diagnosing mastitis in cows.

According to their research, bacterial infections of the udder costs the average Kiwi dairy farmer $54,500 each year, independent of the milk value.

Source: Stuff

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