Fenner, Frank John (1914 - 2010)

Summary

Frank Fenner was Director of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University (ANU), Canberra 1973-1979. Earlier he was Professor of Microbiology 1949-1967, and Director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research 1967-1973 at ANU. Fenner was known for his work in the eradication of smallpox and controlling Australia's rabbit plague.

Details

Chronology

1938

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

1940

Education - DTM, University of Sydney

1940 - 1946

Military service - Second World War. Captain, Australian Army Medical Corps. Served in Egypt and New Guinea

1942

Education - Doctor of Medicine (MD), University of Adelaide

1944

Award - Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE, military)

1946 - 1948

Career position - Haley Research Fellow, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

1948 - 1949

Career position - Rockefeller Travelling Fellow

1949

Award - David Syme Research Prize, University of Melbourne

1949 - 1967

Career position - Professor of Microbiology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra

1954 - 2010

Award - Foundation Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1958 - 2010

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

1959

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

1964

Award - Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS)

1964 - 1965

Career position - President, Australian Society for Microbiology

1967

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

1967

Award - Brittanica Australia Award for Medicine

1967 - 1973

Career position - Director, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra

1973 - 1979

Career position - Director, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University, Canberra

1976

Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)

1977

Career position - Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences

1977 - 1980

Career position - Chairman, Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication, World Health Organization (WHO)

1980

Award - ANZAC Peace Prize

1980

Award - ANZAAS Medal (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science)

1980 - 2010

Career position - Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow, Australian National University, Canberra

1981 - 1985

Career position - Chairman, Committee on Orthopoxvirus Infections, World Health Organization (WHO)

1983

Career position - Florey Lecture given at The Royal Society, London

1985

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

1988

Award - WHO Medal

1988

Award - Japan Prize

1989

Award - Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

1994

Career position - Frank Fenner Medal established to honour the most outstanding PhD thesis submitted each year in the John Curtin School of Medical Research

1995

Award - Copley Medal, The Royal Society, London

1999

Award - Senior Australian Achiever of the Year award

2000

Award - Albert Einstein World Award for Science

2002

Award - Clunies Ross Lifetime Achievement Award, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Frank John Fenner - Records, 1920 - 2010, MS 143; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

South Australian Museum Archives

• Frank John Fenner - Records, 1890 - 1951, AD 34; South Australian Museum Archives. 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

• Fenner, Frank, Nature, Nurture and Chance: the Lives of Frank and Charles Fenner (Canberra: ANU Press, 2006), 356 pp, http://doi.org/10.22459/NNC.07.2006. Details
• Fenner, Frank and Curtis, David, The John Curtin School of Medical Research: the First Fifty Years, 1948-1998 (Gundaroo, New South Wales: Brolga Press, 2001), 565 (577) pp. Details
• Fenner, Frank and Fantini, B., Biological Control of Vertebrate Pests: the History of Myxomatosis, an Experiment in Evolution (Wallingford: CABI Publishing, 1999), 351 pp. Details
• Fenner, Frank and Ratcliffe, F. N., Myxomatosis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965), 379 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Burnet, Frank Macfarlane; Fenner, Frank, 'The Production of Antibodies' in Milestones in Immunology: A Historical Exploration, Debra Jan Bibel, ed. (London: Science Tech, 1988), pp. 181-184. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Medicine and Medical Science' in The Australian Contribution to Britain: Papers of a Conference at the Royal Society, 7-8 June 1988, T. B. Millar, ed. (London: Australian Studies Centre, 1988), pp. 20-40. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Fairley, Sir Neil Hamilton (1891-1966), physician, medical scientist and army officer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 128-131. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140139b.htm. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Gottschalk, Alfred (1894-1973), medical scientist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 302-303. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140341b.htm. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Florey, Howard Walter, Baron Florey of Adelaide and Marston (1898-1968), medical scientist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 188-190. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140202b.htm. Details
• Fenner, Frank; De Burgh, P.M., 'Ward, Hugh Kingsley (1887-1972), Bacteriologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 488-489. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160580b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Fenner, Frank ed., The First Twenty-five Years; the Australian Academy of Science [1954-1979] (Canberra: The Academy, 1980), 286 pp. Details
• Fenner, Frank ed., History of Microbiology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Society for Microbiology, 1990), 624 pp. Details
• Fenner, Frank ed., The first forty years (Canberra: Australian Academy of Science, 1995), 503 pp. Details
• Fenner, Frank ed., The First Fifty Years (Canberra: Australian Academy of Science, 2005), 549 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Anderson, Warwick, 'The Military Spur to Australian Medical Research', Health and History, 15 (1) (2013), 80-103. Details
• Boyden, Stephen, Blanden, Robert and Mims, Cedric, 'Frank John Fenner 1914-2010', Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (1) (2013), 109-33, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12022. Details
• Boyden, Stephen, Blanden, Robert and Mims, Cedric, 'Frank John Fenner FAA, 21 December 1914 - 22 November 2010', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 59 (2013), 125-44. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2013.0009. Details
• Brett-Crowther, Michael, 'Frank Fenner, AC, CMG, MBE, FAA, FRS', International Journal of Environmental Studies, 68 (2011), 141-3. Details
• Fenner, F., 'Frank Macfarlane Burnet, 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (1) (1987), 39-77. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870710039. Details
• Fenner, F., 'Adventures with Pox Viruses of Vertebrates', FEMS Microbiology Review, 24 (2) (2000), 123-133. Details
• Fenner, F. and Woodroofe, Gwendolyn M., 'The pathogenesis of infectious myzomatosis: the mechanism of infection and the immunological response in the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)', British journal of experimental pathology, 34 (4) (1953), 400-11. Details
• Fenner, F. J., 'Frank Macfarlane Burnet, 3 September 1899 - 31 August 1985, elected F.R.S. 1942', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 33 (1987), 101-62. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1987.0005. Details
• Fenner, F., Day, M. F. and Woodroofe, G. M., 'The mechanism of the transmission of myxomatosis in the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) by the mosquito Aedes aegypti', Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science, 30 (2) (1952), 139-52, https://doi.org/10.1038/icb.1952.13. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Scientific Societies in Australia. The Australian Academy of Science', The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Proceedings, 27 (July) (1960), 289-294. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Obituary: Howard Walter Florey: Baron of Adelaide and Marston', Australian Journal of Science, 31 (1) (1968), 37-39. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'The history of the John Curtin School of Medical Research: a centre for research and postgraduate education in the basic medical sciences', Medical Journal of Australia, 1971, v.2 (24 July) (1971), 177-86. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Smallpox, 'the most dreadful scourage of the human species'', Medical Journal of Australia (1984), 728-735. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Howard Florey', Microbiology Australia, 19 (3) (1998), 37-9. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'The Australian Academy of Science: the First 50 Years', Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 62 (2008), 321-30. Details
• Fenner, Frank and Harris, S.F., 'Herbert Cole Coombs 1906-1997', Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (1) (2000), 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0001310067. Details
• Fenner, Frank and Woodroofe, Gwendolyn, 'Protection of laboratory rabbits against myxomatosis by vaccination with Fibroma virus', Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science, 32 (5) (1954), 653-68. https://doi.org/10.1038/icb.1954.68. Details
• Fenner, Frank, Day, M. F. and Gwendolyn M. Woodroofe, 'Epidemiological consequences of the mechanical transmission of myxomatosis by mosquito', Epidemiology & infection, 54 (2) (1956), 284-303. Details
• Fenner, Frank, Marshall, I. D. and Woodroofe, Gwendolyn M., ' Studies in the epidemiology of infectious myxomatosis of rabbits, I: recovery of Australian wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) from myxomatosis under field conditions', Journal of hygiene, 51 (2) (1953), 225-44. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022172400015655. Details
• George, C. R. Robert and Rawlinson, William, 'The Global Eradication of Smallpox and the Work of Frank Fenner', Microbiology Australia, 35 (3) (2014), 165-8. Details
• Hodgkin, Philip D., 'Remembering Frank Fenner', Immunology and Cell Biology, 89 (2011), 497-8. Details
• Howie-Willis, Ian, 'Australian malariology during World War II (part 3 of "Pioneers of Australian military malariology"', Journal of Military and Veteran's History, 25 (2) (2017), 46-68. Details
• Joklik, W. K., 'Famous institutions in virology: the Department of Microbiology, Australian National University and the Laboratory of Cell Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases', Archives of virology, 141 (5), 969-82. Details
• Murphy, Frederick A., 'In Memoriam: Frank Fenner (1914-2011)', Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17 (2011), 759-62. Details
• Murphy, Frederick A., 'In Memoriam: Frank Fenner (1914-2011)', Archives of Virology, 156 (2011), 363-7. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Dayton, Leigh, 'Frank Fenner, who eradicated smallpox and ended rabbit plague, dead at 95', The Australian (2010). Details
• Smith, Bridie, 'The man who killed smallpox dies at 95', The Age (2010). https://www.theage.com.au/education/the-man-who-killed-smallpox-dies-at-95-20101122-1845h.html. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q714609. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/36918097. Details
• 'Fenner, Frank John (1914 - 2010)', Fellows of the Academy, Australian Academy of Science, 2019, https://www.science.org.au/profile/frank-fenner. Details
• CA 2002, 2 Echelon, Army Headquarters; CA 46, Department of Defence [III], Central Office, 'NAA: B883, SX4845', B883 Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=6245550. Details
• 'Fenner, Frank (19141221-20101122)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-468266. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Fenner, Frank John - Ms 143', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms143.html. Details
• 'Frank Fenner - helped eradicate smallpox', in The 1997 Australian Science Festival, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/other/asf_scientists.htm#frank. Details
• 'Frank Fenner, Enemy of Rabbite, Dies', in ABC Rural News, 22 November 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201011/s3073081.htm. Details
• Blythe, Max, 'Interview with Professor Frank Fenner', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 13 September 1993, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-frank-fenner. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Interview with Professor Jacques Miller', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 27 October 1999, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-jacques-miller. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Interview with Professor Gordon Ada', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 13 September 1993, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-gordon-ada. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Interview with Dr Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 23 September 1999, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/dr-hugh-tyndale-biscoe-marsupial. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Interview with Professor Stephen Boyden', in Interviews with Australian scientists, Australian Academy of Science, 2003, https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-stephen-boyden-human. Details

Reviews

• Fenner, Frank (ed.), The First Fifty Years (2005)
  Mulvaney, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 16 (2), (2005), 249-251. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR05012. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_f.html. 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
• Walsh, A.; and Willis, J. B., 'Albert Lloyd George Rees 1916-1989', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (1) (1992), 31-47. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9920910031. Details