Bishop, Peter Orlebar (1917 - 2012)

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 entries

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

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

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

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21165195. Details
• 'Bishop, Peter Orlebar (1917 - 2012)', Recipients [of the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science, 2000 - 2017], Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2017, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20171113020140/http://www.science.gov.au/community/PrimeMinistersPrizesforScience/Recipients/1990-1999/Pages/PeterBishop.aspx. Details
• 'Bishop, Peter Orlebar (1917 - 2012)', Fellows of the Academy, Australian Academy of Science, 2019, https://www.science.org.au/profile/peter-bishop. Details
• 'Bishop, P O (1917-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-460107. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Bishop, Peter Orlebar - Ms 154', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms154.html. Details
• Blythe, Max, 'Interview with Professor Peter Bishop', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 28 March 1996, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-peter-bishop-1917-2012. Details
• Mellor, Lise, 'Bishop, Peter Orlebar', in University of Sydney School of Medicine Online Museum, Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive, University of Sydney, 2008, https://sydney.edu.au/medicine/museum/mwmuseum/index.php/Bishop,_Peter_Orlebar. Details

See also

• Glover, W. E., 'Robert Ford Whelan 1922-1984', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (3) (1986), 409-421. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9860630409. Details