Person

Fenner, Frank John (1914 - 2010)

AC CMG FAA FRS

Born
21 December 1914
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Died
22 November 2010
Occupation
Microbiologist and Virologist

Summary

Frank Fenner was Director of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra 1973-1979. Earlier he was Professor of Microbiology 1949-1967, and Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research 1967-1973 at ANU. Fenner was known for his work in the eradication of smallpox and controlling Australia's rabbit plague.

Details

Chronology

1938
Education - Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS), University of Adelaide
1940
Education - DTM, University of Sydney
1940 - 1946
Military service - Second World War. Captain, Australian Army Medical Corps. Served in Egypt and New Guinea
1942
Education - Doctor of Medicine (MD), University of Adelaide
1944
Award - Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE, military)
1946 - 1948
Career position - Haley Research Fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
1948 - 1949
Career position - Rockefeller Travelling Fellow
1949
Award - David Syme Research Prize, University of Melbourne
1949 - 1967
Career position - Professor of Microbiology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra
1954 - 2010
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1958 - 2010
Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)
1959
Award - Walter Burfitt Prize, Royal Society of New South Wales
1964
Award - Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS)
1964 - 1965
Career position - President, Australian Society for Microbiology
1967
Award - Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture, Australian Academy of Science
1967
Award - Brittanica Australia Award for Medicine
1967 - 1973
Career position - Director, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra
1973 - 1979
Career position - Director, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University, Canberra
1976
Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)
1977
Career position - Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences
1977 - 1980
Career position - Chairman of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication, World Health Organization (WHO)
1980
Award - ANZAC Peace Prize
1980
Award - ANZAAS Medal (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science)
1980 - 2010
Career position - Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University, Canberra
1981 - 1985
Career position - Chairman of the Committee on Orthopoxvirus Infections, World Health Organization (WHO)
1983
Career position - Florey Lecture given at the Royal Society, London
1985
Award - Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture, Australian Academy of Science
1988
Award - WHO Medal
1988
Award - Japan Prize
1989
Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)
1994
Career position - Frank Fenner Medal established to honour the most outstanding PhD thesis submitted each year in the John Curtin School of Medical Research
1995
Award - Copley Medal, The Royal Society, London
1999
Award - Senior Australian Achiever of the Year award
2000
Award - Albert Einstein World Award for Science
2002
Award - Clunies Ross Lifetime Contribution Award

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Frank John Fenner - Records, 1920 - 2010, MS 143; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

South Australian Museum Archives

  • Frank John Fenner - Records, 1890 - 1951, AD 34; South Australian Museum Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

  • FENNER, Frank, Nature, Nurture and Chance: the Lives of Frank and Charles Fenner (Canberra: ANU E Press, 2006), 356 pp. Details
  • Fenner, Frank and Curtis, David, The John Curtin School of Medical Research: the First Fifty Years, 1948-1998 (Gundaroo, New South Wales: Brolga Press, 2001), 565 (577) pp. Details
  • Fenner, Frank and Fantini, B., Biological Control of Vertebrate Pests: the History of Myxomatosis, an Experiment in Evolution (Wallingford: CABI Publishing, 1999), 351 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Burnet, Frank Macfarlane; Fenner, Frank, 'The Production of Antibodies' in Milestones in Immunology: A Historical Exploration, Debra Jan Bibel, ed. (London: Science Tech, 1988), pp. 181-184. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Medicine and Medical Science' in The Australian Contribution to Britain: Papers of a Conference at the Royal Society, 7-8 June 1988, T. B. Millar, ed. (London: Australian Studies Centre, 1988), pp. 20-40. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Florey, Howard Walter, Baron Florey of Adelaide and Marston (1898-1968), medical scientist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie, ed., vol. 14 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 188-190. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140202b.htm. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Gottschalk, Alfred (1894-1973), Medical Scientist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie, ed., vol. 14 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 302-303. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140341b.htm. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Fairley, Sir Neil Hamilton (1891-1966), Physician, Medical Scientist and Army Officer' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie, ed., vol. 14 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 128-131. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140139b.htm. Details
  • Fenner, Frank; De Burgh, P.M., 'Ward, Hugh Kingsley (1887-1972), Bacteriologist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds, vol. 16 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 488-489. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160580b.htm. Details

Edited Books

  • Fenner, Frank ed., The First Twenty-five Years; the Australian Academy of Science [1954-1979] (Canberra: The Academy, 1980), 286 pp. Details
  • Fenner, Frank ed., History of Microbiology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Society for Microbiology, 1990), 624 pp. Details
  • Fenner, Frank ed., The first forty years (Canberra: Australian Academy of Science, 1995), 503 pp. Details
  • Fenner, Frank ed., The First Fifty Years (Canberra: Australian Academy of Science, 2005), 549 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Anderson, Warwick, 'The Military Spur to Australian Medical Research', Health and History, 15 (1) (2013), 80-103. Details
  • Boyden, Stephen, Blanden, Robert and Mims, Cedric, 'Frank John Fenner FAA, 21 December 1914 - 22 November 2010', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows: Royal Society of London, 59 (2013), 125-44. Details
  • Boyden, Stephen, Blanden, Robert and Mims, Cedric, 'Frank John Fenner 1914-2010', Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (1) (2013), 109-33, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12022. Details
  • Brett-Crowther, Michael, 'Frank Fenner, AC, CMG, MBE, FAA, FRS', International Journal of Environmental Studies, 68 (2011), 141-3. Details
  • Fenner, F., 'Frank Macfarlane Burnet, 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (1) (1987), 39-77. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870710039. Details
  • Fenner, F., 'Adventures with Pox Viruses of Vertebrates', FEMS Microbiology Review, 24 (2) (2000), 123-133. Details
  • Fenner, F. J., 'Frank Macfarlane Burnet, 3 September 1899 - 31 August 1985, elected F.R.S. 1942', Biographical Memoirs Fellows of the Royal Society, 33 (1987), 101-62. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Scientific Societies in Australia. The Australian Academy of Science', The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Proceedings, 27 (July) (1960), 289-294. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Obituary: Howard Walter Florey: Baron of Adelaide and Marston', Australian Journal of Science, 31 (1) (1968), 37-39. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'The history of the John Curtin School of Medical Research: a centre for research and postgraduate education in the basic medical sciences', Medical Journal of Australia, 1971, v.2 (24 July) (1971), 177-86. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Smallpox, 'the most dreadful scourage of the human species'', Medical Journal of Australia (1984), 728-735. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'Howard Florey', Microbiology Australia, 19 (3) (1998), 37-9. Details
  • Fenner, Frank, 'The Australian Academy of Science: the First 50 Years', Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 62 (2008), 321-30. Details
  • Fenner, Frank and Harris, S.F., 'Herbert Cole Coombs 1906-1997', Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (1) (2000), 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0001310067. Details
  • George, C. R. Robert and Rawlinson, William, 'The Global Eradication of Smallpox and the Work of Frank Fenner', Microbiology Australia, 35 (3) (2014), 165-8. Details
  • Hodgkin, Philip D., 'Remembering Frank Fenner', Immunology and Cell Biology, 89 (2011), 497-8. Details
  • Howie-Willis, Ian, 'Australian malariology during World War II (part 3 of "Pioneers of Australian military malariology"', Journal of Military and Veteran's History, 25 (2) (2017), 46-68. Details
  • Murphy, Frederick A., 'In Memoriam: Frank Fenner (1914-2011)', Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17 (2011), 759-62. Details
  • Murphy, Frederick A., 'In Memoriam: Frank Fenner (1914-2011)', Archives of Virology, 156 (2011), 363-7. Details

Newspaper Articles

Resources

Resource Sections

Reviews

See also

McCarthy, G.J.

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