Eccles, John Carew (1903 - 1997)

Summary

Sir John Eccles was Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at the State University of New York, Buffalo 1968-1975. Earlier he was Professor of Physiology at the Australian National University 1951-1966 and was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1963 (jointly). Eccles was a member of many societies and organisations including the American Medical Association / Education and Research Foundation, and the Institute for Biomedical Research, USA.

He is commemorated by Sir John Eccles Lecture, University of New South Wales, established in 1993 to mark his 90th birthday.

Details

Chronology

1925

Education - Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and Bachelor of Surgery (BS), University of Melbourne

c. 1926 - c. 1929

Education - Master of Arts (MA) and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Oxford, UK

1927 - 1929

Career position - Junior Research Fellow, Exeter College, University of Oxford

1927 - 1929

Award - Christopher Welch Scholarship to study, University of Oxford

1932 - 1934

Career position - Staines Medical Fellow at Exeter College

1934 - 1937

Career position - Tutorial Fellow at Magdalen College and University Demonstrator in Physiology, University of Oxford

1937 - 1943

Career position - Director of the Kanematsu Memorial Institute of Pathology, Sydney Hospital

1938 - 1997

Award - Foundation Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP)

1941 - 1997

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

1944 - 1951

Career position - Professor of Physiology, University of Otago, New Zealand

1951 - 1997

Award - Fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand (FRSNZ)

1952 - 1966

Career position - Professor of Physiology, Australian National University, Canberra

1953 - 1997

Award - Petitioner for the Academy, Founding Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1956

Award - Walter Burfitt Prize, Royal Society of New South Wales

1957 - 1961

Career position - President, Australian Academy of Science

1958

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - In recognition of services to physiological research

1961 -

Career position - Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina

1962

Award - Royal Medal, The Royal Society, London

1963

Award - Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture, Australian Academy of Science

1963

Award - Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine

1963

Award - Cothenius Medal, Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina

1965

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

1966

Award - Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences

1966 - 1968

Career position - Member of the Institute for Biomedical Research in Chicago, USA

1968 - 1975

Career position - Distinguished Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York in Buffalo, USA

1990

Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) - In recognition of service to science, particularly in the field of neurophysiology

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• David Roderick Curtis - Records, 1954 - 2005, MS 217; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
• John Carew Eccles - Records, MS 199; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

John Curtin School of Medical Research

• John Carew Eccles - Records, 1951 - 1966; John Curtin School of Medical Research. 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

Books

• Mennis, Mary R., The Book of Eccles: a Portrait of Sir John Eccles, Australian Nobel Laureate and Scientist (Aspley: Lalong Enterprises, 2003), 60 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Allison, David K., 'Eccles, John Carew' in New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Koertge, Noretta, ed., vol. 2 (Detroit : Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008), pp. 329-338. Details
• Beale, R, 'John Carew Eccles' in Australia's Nobel Laureates - Adventures in Innovation (Sydney: ABIE Australian Business and Investment Explorer, 2004), pp. 54-63. Details
• Matthews, Peter B. C., 'Sir John Carew Eccles, 1903-1997' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Journal Articles

• Andersen, P.; Lundberg, A., 'John C. Eccles', Trends in Neuroscience, 20 (1997), 324-325. Details
• Borck, C., 'John C. Eccles (1903 - 1997) neurophysiologist and neurophilosopher', Journal of the history of neurosciences, 7 (1) (1998), 76-81. https://doi.org/10.1076/jhin.7.1.76.13093. Details
• Curtis, David, 'Sir John Eccles, AC - Nobel Laureate', Melbourne University Magazine (2002), 28-29. Details
• Curtis, David R.; Andersen, Per, 'John Carew Eccles 1903-1997', Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (3) (2001), 439-473. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0011340439. Details
• Curtis, David; Andersen, Per, 'Sir John Carew Eccles, AC', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 47 (2001), 161-187, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2001.0010. Details
• Cytowicz, Barbara, 'Sir John Eccles: Odyssey of a Nobel Prize Winner', Australasian Science, 20 (7) (1999), 46. Details
• Geffen, Laurie and Spencer, Nick J., 'Early Australian neuroscientists and the tyranny of distance', Journal of the history of the neurosciences, 33 (1) (2024), 57-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2023.2232824. Details
• Nicoll, R.A., 'John C. Eccles (1903-1997)', Science, 277 (1997), 194. Details
• Penny, David, 'John Eccles and Karl Popper at the University of Otago, 1945', New Zealand Science Review, 69 (2012), 15-26. Details
• Stuart, D. G., 'The Contributions of John Carew Eccles to Contemporary Neuroscience', Progress in Neurobiology, 78 (3-5) (2006), 135-326. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/104834420. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q273223. Details
• 'Eccles, John C (19030127-19970502)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-813453. Details
• 'Awarded honorary LLD, 1965', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. Details

Resource Sections

• 'The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963 'for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane'', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1963/index.html. Details
• 'Biography - Sir John Carew Eccles', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1963/eccles-bio.html. Details

See also

• Carmody, John, 'An unrecognised Sydney contribution to unravelling the perplexity of nerve impulses', Health and History, 25 (1) (2023), 113-7. https://doi.org/10.1353/hah.2023.a904715. Details
• Crompton, R. W., 'Leonard George Holden Huxley 1902-1988', Historical Records of Australian Science, 8 (4) (1991), 249-264. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9910840249.htm. Details
• Egan, Bryan, Ways of a Hospital: St Vincent's Melbourne 1890s-1990s (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1993). Pages 65, 169-1970. Details
• 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
• McIntyre, A. K., 'Walter Victor Macfarlane 1913-82', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (2) (1985), 247-265. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9850620247. Details
• Paterson, M. S., 'John Conrad Jaeger 1907-1979', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (3) (1982), 64-88. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9820530064. Details
• Rees, A. L. G., 'Ian William Wark 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (4) (1987), 533-548. https://doi.org/10.1071HR9870640533. Details
• Rogers, W. P., 'Jack Ellerton Becker 1904-1979', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (3) (1982), 92-107. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9820530092. Details