Person

Birch, Louis Charles (Charles) (1918 - 2009)

FAA

Born
8 February 1918
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died
19 December 2009
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Ecologist, Geneticist and Zoologist

Summary

Charles Birch was a geneticist specialising in population ecology. In collaboration with Herbert Andrewartha he worked on the connection between physiology, population levels and environmental factors, particularly weather. Their ideas on population ecology emphasised the role of environmental controls. From 1964 to 1980 Birch held the Challis Chair of Biology at the University of Sydney.

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Details

Chronology

1939
Education - Bachelor of Agricultural Science (BAgSc), University of Melbourne
1939 - 1945
Career position - Research Entomologist, Department of Entomology, Waite Agricultural Research Institute
1945 - 1946
Award - Research in the growth of insect populations and other aspects of insect ecology at University of Chicago, Ilinois, U.S.A., Science and Industry Endowment Fund
1946
Career position - Research Fellow, University of Chicago, Michigan, U.S.A.
1947
Career position - CSIRO Research Scholarship, Bureau of Animal Population, Department of Zoological Field Studies, Oxford University
1948
Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Adelaide
1949 - 1953
Career position - Senior Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Sydney
1954
Award - Fulbright Fellow, Columbia University, New York, U.S.A.
1954 - 1960
Career position - Reader in Zoology, University of Sydney
1955
Career position - Visiting Professor of Zoology, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
1955
Award - David Syme Research Prize (shared with H. G. Andrewartha), University of Melbourne
1959
Career position - Visiting Professor of Zoology, University of Minnesota, U.S.A.
1960 - 1984
Career position - Challis Chair of Biology, University of Sydney
1961 - 2009
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1967
Career position - Visiting Professor of Genetics, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
1970 - 1984
Career position - Vice-Chairman, World Council of Churches Commission on Science and Society
1974 - ?
Career position - Member, Club of Rome
1980 - ?
Award - Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1988
Award - Eminent Ecologist Award (with Herbert Andrewartha), Ecological Society of America
1988
Award - Gold Medal, Ecological Society of Australia
1990
Award - Templeton Prize, John Templeton Foundation, U.S.A.
2003
Award - DSc honoris causa, University of Sydney
2008
Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to science, particularly in the field of biology as an academic and researcher, and through contributions to the understanding of the relationship of science to religion

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Louis Charles ("Charles") Birch - Records, 1940 - 1972, DeB 639; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

University of Sydney, Archives

  • Louis Charles ("Charles") Birch - Records, 1953 - 1986, P 131; University of Sydney, Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Australian Ionising Radiation Advisory Council, British nuclear tests in Australia - a review of operational safety measures and of possible after-effects (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1983), 76 pp. Birch was a member of AIRAC in 1983. Details

Journal Articles

  • Anon, 'Charles Birch', Australian Academy of Science Newsletter, 79 (2010), 10. Details
  • Birch, L.C.; Browning, T. O., 'Herbert George Andrewartha 1907-1992', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (3) (1993), 258-268. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9930930259. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Who's who in Australia 1995 (Melbourne: Information Australia Group, 1995), 1622 pp. Details
  • Smith, Susan and Spurling, Thomas H., 'The Science and Industry Endowment Fund: supporting the development of Australian science', Historical Records of Australian Science, 26 (1) (2015), 58-83, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR14027. Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P000230b.htm

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