By Rory Macnamara
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Message from RACA Journal : A bit of history 2011 to 2021
As this is the third anniversary celebration for SAIRAC published by the RACA Journal team , it made sense to focus almost exclusively on the past decade .
In no way does this reduce or diminish the value of the previous 60 years , but rather reinforces them , as SAIRAC celebrates 70 years of dedicated service to the industry , starting in Cape Town those seventy years ago .
Dr Guido Dreosti
Raca Journal and fruit and its preservation by means of refrigeration . His qualifications had an engineering flavour to them and culminated with a doctorate in engineering physics from the University of Utrecht in Holland in 1930 .
Dr Guido Dreosti , founding president of SAIRAC . Died 7 September 1997 at the age of 92 .
At the inaugural meeting of the South African Institute of Refrigeration held at Hotel Bordeaux in Cape Town on 17 July 1951 , Dr Guido Dreosti was elected the founding president . The initial membership was 41 , with Dr Dreosti being allotted membership number 1 . He was president for the first five years and again in 1957 / 58 and 1962 / 63 .
In 1962 , the institute widened its scope to include air conditioning and became the South African Institute of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning ( SAIRAC ). Since 1951 , until February 2019 , 4 538 persons have joined SAIRAC .
Dr Dreosti was a true scientist and had a wide range of interests pertaining to the food industry , particularly fish
Milestones in his career include : Research into the pre-cooling of fruit for the South African export industry from 1930 to 1940 . Director of the Fishing Research Institute , Cape Town . Technical adviser to the Perishable Products Export Control Board ( PPECB ). Research professor at the University of Cape Town . Dr Dreosti published over 300 papers on subjects in the fields of refrigeration , dehydration , canning , and so forth . He made a lasting and valuable impact on humankind and left the world a better place . SAIRAC launched the Dreosti Memorial Lecture in 1998 in memory of and to honour the outstanding achievements and leadership of its founder . The Dreosti lecture exemplifies the objective of SAIRAC to promote the unrestricted dissemination of knowledge and information . Read more about the Dreosti Memorial lectures on page 33 .
CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE HERVAC INDUSTRY 37