New Zealand’s first chair of geophysics was inaugurated at Victoria University of Wellington in 1967. This established
geophysics - the quantitative study of the earth's physical
properties and processes - as a major specialisation in the University, although research and teaching in several branches of the subject had already been in progress for many years. In the Department of Physics, geophysics has been one of the principal research interests since the mid 19501s; in the Department of Geology a lectureship in applied geophysics was set up in 1965; and in the Department of Mathematics research on geothermal systems has been carried out, and more recently another important branch of geophysics was introduced with the establishment in 1968 of a senior lectureship in meteorology. These developments reflect the broad relevance of geophysics to
 New Zealand as a country which is affected by earthquakes and volcanic activity, where a special contribution can be made to the study of global phenomena such as geomagnetism, where studies of the atmosphere and oceans are important to many aspects of life, and where economic development demands not only a persistent research for minerals but the construction of many power stations and other large structures requiring intensive site investigation.