Ada, Gordon Leslie (1922 - 2012)

Summary

Gordon Ada was Professor of Microbiology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University from 1968-1988. Earlier he was at the National Institute of Medical Research, London 1946-1948 and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research 1948-1968.

Details

From the University of Sydney Gordon Ada received a BSc in 1943, an MSc in 1946 and a DSc in 1959. His first research position was at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) from 1944 to 1946, where he worked on ridding blood serum of precipitates. The realisation that he needed to get further experience and learn new techniques led to him moving to London to work at the National Institute for Medical Research. Working there from 1946 to 1948, he mastered moving boundary electrophoresis and ultracentrifugation, which were then new biophysical techniques used for the study of proteins.

While in London he was invited to join the staff of Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research (WEHI), by the then Director Frank Macfarlane Burnet, to help establish the Biochemistry and Biophysics Research Unit with Henry Holden. He accepted the invitation and stayed at WEHI from 1948 until 1968. During this time he became first a virologist and then an immunologist. As a virologist he studied the influenza virus and the Murray Valley encephalitis virus. In 1962 Ada changed to immunology and began his study of the nature and location of cells that bind antigen. Over the next six years they studied the role of antibody in antigen localisation and demonstrated the absence of antigen in antibody-forming cells.

Ada left WEHI in 1968 to become Head of the Department of Microbiology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, a position he held until his retirement in 1988. Under his leadership the department combined virological and immunological approaches, becoming an international centre for the study of cellular immune response. In his department during this time were Peter Doherty and Rolf Zinkernagel, conducting the research that led to their being awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology.

In 1971, shortly after arriving in Canberra, Ada became interested in international health through his association with the World Health Organization. This involvement lasted more than 20 years and covered eight different programs, most being concerned with the development and use of vaccines.

During 1988-1991 Ada was at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore, USA. As director of the School's Center for AIDS Research. In 1988 he delivered the plenary lecture on The prospects for HIV vaccines to the Fourth International AIDS Congress in Stockholm. In 1991 he returned to Canberra as a Visiting Fellow in the Division of Immunology and Cell Biology at the John Curtin School.

Ada was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1964 and has served the Academy in a number of roles. He has also served as President of the Australian Biochemical Society (1966-67) and the Australian Society for Immunology (1975-76). In 2001 he was honoured by induction into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.
Biography taken from the listed Australian Academy of Science on-line resource.

Chronology

1943

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Sydney

1944 - 1946

Career position - Research Scientist, Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, New South Wales

1946

Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Sydney

1946 - 1948

Career position - Research Scientist, National Institute for Medical Research in Hampstead, UK

1948 - 1961

Career position - Senior Researcher and founding member of the Biochemistry and Biophysics Research Unit, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research (WEHI), Parkville, Victoria

1959

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Sydney

1962 - 1968

Career position - Head of the Biochemistry and Biophysics Research Unit at WEHI

1964 -

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1966 - 1968

Career position - President, Australian Biochemical Society

1968 - 1988

Career position - Head of the Department of Microbiology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra

1972 - 1975

Career position - Council member, Australian Academy of Science

1975 - 1976

Career position - President, Australian Society of Immunology

1977 - 1981

Career position - Foreign Secretary

1988 - 1991

Career position - Associate Director and then Director of Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore, USA

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Gordon Leslie Ada - Records, 1946, MS 047; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Journal Articles

• Nossal, Gustav J. V.; and Parish, Christopher R., 'Gordon Leslie Ada 1922-2012', Historical Records of Australian Science, 26 (2) (2015), 164-78, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR15007. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Ada, Andrew, Nossal, Gustav and Parish, Chris, 'Gordon Leslie Ada, AO, FAA, 6-12-1922 - 25-9-2012: Insight led to Key Immunity Discoveries', The Saturday Age (2012), 35. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5584789. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/61608736. Details
• 'Ada, Gordon Leslie (1922 - 2012)', Fellows of the Academy, Australian Academy of Science, 2019, https://www.science.org.au/profile/gordon-ada. Details
• 'Ada, G L (1922-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-784702. Details

Resource Sections

• Fenner, Frank, 'Interview with Professor Gordon Ada', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 13 September 1993, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-gordon-ada. Details