Denton, Derek Ashworth (1924 - 2022)

Summary

Derek Denton was a world renowned medical scientist considered the world's leading authority on the regulation of salt and water metabolism, and relevant endocrine control mechanisms. His research focused on the electrolytes in extracellular fluids and associated hormones, and instinctive behaviours controlling intake of water and salts. This research began when, after joining the Department of Physiology at the University of Melbourne, he established the Ionic Research Unit with colleague Victor Wynn to investigate renal mechanisms regulating sodium and water balance. Denton became Chief Scientist of the Howard Florey Laboratories and later Director of the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine. His work was recognised by fellowships of the Australian Academy of Science and the leading scientific academies in the United Kingdom, U.S.A., France and Sweden.

Details

Chronology

1947

Education - MB BS, University of Melbourne

1947 - 1949

Career position - Resident medical officer, Royal Melbourne Hospital

1949

Career event - Joined Department of Physiology, University of Melbourne

1952 - 1953

Career position - Overseas Fellow, National Health and Medical Research Council at University of Cambridge

1962 - 1970

Career position - Principal Research Fellow, National Health and Medical Research Council

1962 - 1970

Career position - Head and Chief Scientist, Howard Florey Laboratories

1971 - 1989

Career position - Founding Director and Board Member, Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine

1974

Career position - Chairman, 5th International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste

1974

Award - Elected Foreign Medical Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

1975

Award - Pavlovian Award, Pavlovian Society of North America

1976 - 1990

Career position - Member, Medical Research Advisory Committee/Fellowships Committee/Needs in Research Committee, National Health and Medical Research Council

1977 - 1989

Career position - Member of Council, International Union of Physiological Societies

1977 - 1990

Career position - Research Professor of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, University of Melbourne

1978 - 1991

Career position - Member, Awards Jury, Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, U.S.A.

1979

Career position - Chairman, Organising Committee, 8th International Symposium on Food and Fluid Intake

1979

Award - Honorary Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Physicians

1979

Career position - Member, National Committee, International Congress of Physiological Societies, Sydney

1979 - 2022

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1982

Award - Pyotr Kuzmich Anokhin Medal for contribution to world physiology, Schenov First Moscow Medical Institute

1983 - 1989

Career position - First Vice-President, International Union of Physiological Societies

1986 - 2022

Award - Honorary Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

1987

Career position - Invited Member, Scientific Advisory Council, German Hypertension Research Institute, Heidelberg, Germany

1987

Award - Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture, Australian Academy of Science

1987

Career position - Chairman of the Committee and Principal Organiser, Swedish-Australia International Symposia

1988

Career position - Co-Director, International Interdisciplinary Symposia on Hypertension in Blacks

1988 - 2022

Award - Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Physicians, London

1990 - ?

Career position - Emeritus Director, Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine

1990 - ?

Career position - Emeritus Research Professor of Experimental Physiology and Medicine, University of Melbourne

1991 - ?

Career position - Adjunct Scientist, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonia, Texas, U.S.A.

1991

Career position - Member, International Committee, First International Congress of Pathophysiology, Moscow, U.S.S.R.

1992

Career position - Board Member, Commission for the Future

1993 - 1994

Career position - Vice-President of the Board, Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine

1995 - 2022

Award - Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.

1997 - ?

Career position - President, Howard Florey Biomedical Research Foundation

1997 - ?

Career position - Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University College, London

1997

Career position - Member, Task Force on High Blood Pressure Research, National Institutes of Health, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.

1999 - 2022

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

2000

Award - Elected Foreign Associate, Académie des Sciences, Institute de France

2000

Career position - Australian Academy of Science representative to International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies

1 Jan 2001

Award - Centenary Medal - for service to Australian society and science in evolutionary biology

2001

Award - Lifetime Achievement Award, International Commission on Food and Fluid Intake, International Union of Physiological Societies

26 Jan 2005

Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) - for service to science through leadership in medical research in the field of physiology relating to sodium homeostasis and the body's regulation of fluid and electrolyte balances, and the arts

2006

Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

2010 - ?

Career position - Honorary Professor, Florey Neuroscience Institute

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Denton, D., The hunger for salt. an anthropological, physiological and medical analysis (Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982), 650 pp. Details
• Hewat, Tim, The Florey: the Story of the Sheep Hilton (Sydney: Collins/Angus & Robertson, 1990), 211 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Denton, D., 'The founding of the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine', Journal of physiology, 591 (2013), 35-40, https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2012.245449. Details
• Denton, D. A.; Ryan, M. H., 'William Ian Potter 1902-1994', Historical Records of Australian Science, 11 (4) (1997), 541-550. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9971140541. Details
• Denton, Derek, 'Kenneth Baillieu Myer 1921-1992', Historical Records of Australian Science, 18 (1) (2007), 97-111, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR07005. Details
• McKinley, Michael J., 'Emeritus Professor Derek Ashworth Denton (1924 - 2022)', Historical Records of Australian Science, 36 (2025), 1-11, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR24029. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5261917. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/233615629. Details
• Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture, Australian Academy of Science, 2022, https://www.science.org.au/supporting-science/awards-and-opportunities/macfarlane-burnet-medal-and-lecture. Details
• 'Denton, Derek A', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-459466. Details
• 'Awarded honorary LLD, 2006 [Citation provided]', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. Details

See also

• Coghlan, John P., 'The Florey turns 50', Clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology 41(6):381-91, 41 (6) (2014), 351-61, https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1681.12236. Details
• Robson, Alexandra K.; Production Manager and Editor eds, Who's who in Australia 2019 (Southbank, Vic.: AAP Directories, 2018), 1788 pp. Details