Person

Bishop, Peter Orlebar (1917 - 2012)

OA FAA FRS

Born
14 June 1917
Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
Died
3 June 2012
Occupation
Neurophysiologist

Summary

Peter Bishop was a neurophysiologist renowned for his ingenious quantitative research on the mammalian visual system and the influence he had in attracting researchers to the field. He was the first to determine three-dimensional perception. His work with international collaborators Vernon Mountcastle and Horace Barlow was recognised as being of the highest quality. Bishop was Professor of Physiology, University of Sydney 1955-1967 and at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra 1967-1982. The P.O. Bishop Medal, awarded annually to the top student taking the Bachelor of Science (Medical) degree, was struck by the University of Sydney in his honour.

Details

Chronology

1940
Education - MB BS, University of Sydney
1941
Career position - Junior Resident Medical Officer, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
1941 - 1942
Career position - Neurological Registrar, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
1942 - 1946
Career position - Served as Surgeon Lieutenant, Royal Australian Naval Reserve
1946
Career position - Clinical Assistant in Neurosurgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
1946 - 1947
Career position - Clinical Clerk, National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London
1946 - 1950
Career position - Fellow, Postgraduate Committee in Medicine, University of Sydney
1947 - 1950
Career position - Research Fellow, Department of Anatomy, University College London
1950 - 1951
Career position - Fellow, National Health and Medical Research Council, Department of Surgery, University of Sydney
1951 - 1954
Career position - Senior Lecturer, Department of Physiology, University of Sydney
1954 - 1955
Career position - Reader, Department of Physiology, University of Sydney
1955 - 1967
Career position - Professor of Physiology and Head of Department of Physiology , University of Sydney
1955 - 2012
Career position - Member, Physiological Society of Great Britain
1959 - 1966
Career position - Member, Medical Research Advisory Committee, National Health and Medical Research Council
1960 - 1987
Career position - Member, Australian Physiological and Pharmacological Society
1967
Award - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Sydney
1967 - 1982
Career position - Professor and Head of Department of Physiology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University
1967 - 2012
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1968 - 1977
Career position - Member of Council, International Union of Physiological Societies
1972 - 1976
Career position - Member, Australian Research Grants Committee
1973 - 2012
Award - Honorary Member, Ophthalmological Society of New Zealand
1974
Career position - Visiting Professor, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
1977 - 2012
Award - Honorary Member, Neurosurgical Society of Australia
1977 - 2012
Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)
1982
Career position - Visiting Professor, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
1982 - 1997
Career position - Chairman of Board, Historical records of Australian science
1983
Award - Fellow, National Vision Research Institute of Australia
1983 - 1987
Career position - Visiting Fellow, Department of Behavioural Biology, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University
1984 - 1985
Career position - Guest Professor, Laboratorie van Neuro- en Psychofysiologie, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium
1984 - 1997
Career position - Chairman, Editorial Board, Historical Records of Australian science
1985
Career position - Visiting Professor, University of Zürich, Switzerland
1986
Career position - Fellow, St John's College, University of Cambridge
1986
Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) - in recognition of service to medical science, particularly in the field of physiology
1986 - 1992
Career position - Member of Council, International Brain Research Organisation
1986 - 2012
Award - Honorary Member, Australian Neuroscience Society
1987 - 2012
Career position - Honorary Research Associate, Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Sydney
1987 - 2012
Award - Honorary Member, Australian Physiological and Pharmacological Society
1993
Award - Australia Prize (in the field of Sensory Perception) (joint), Australian Government
2001
Award - Centenary Medal - for service to Australian society and science in neurophysiology

Related Awards

Related Corporate Bodies

Related Journals

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Peter Orlebar Bishop - Records, 1950 - 1967, MS 154; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Book Sections

  • Bishop, P. O., 'Terra Australis Incognita: the Emergence of Physiology in Australia' in Frontiers in Psychological Research, D. G. Garlick and P. I. Korner, eds (Canberra: Australian Academy of Science, 1984), pp. 1-15. Details
  • Bishop, P. O., 'Davies, Harold Whitridge (1894-1946), professor of physiology' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 13: 1940 - 1980 A-De, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), pp. 580-581. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130646b.htm. Details

Edited Books

  • Moyal, Ann ed., Portraits in Science (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1994), 209 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Bishop, P. O., 'Physiology in Sydney in the 1950s', Proceedings of the Australian Physiological and Pharmacological Society, 14 (1) (1983), 48-57. Details
  • Pettigrew, Jack D.; and Dreher, Bogdan, 'Peter Orlebar Bishop 1917 - 2012', Historical Records of Australian Science, 29 (2) (2018), 162-71. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR17008. Details
  • Pettigrew, Jack D.; and Dreher, Bogdan, 'Peter Orlebar Bishop, 14 June 1917 - 3 June 2012', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 64 (2018), 51-68. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2017.0046. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Rosanne Walker and Helen Cohn

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260