Osborne, William Alexander (1873 - 1967)

Summary

William Osborne was Professor of Physiology, University of Melbourne 1904-1938 and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine after 1929. He was on the panel of the radio quiz-programme "Information Please" from 1938 and was noted for his memory and wide variety of interests. President of the Royal Society of Victoria 1916-1917.

Details

Chronology

1897

Award - 1851 Exhibition Science Research Scholarship

1914

Career position - Local Secretary for Melbourne, Section I (Physiology), British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting

1916 - 1917

Career position - President, Royal Society of Victoria

1919

Career position - Foundation Councillor (Physiology), Australian National Research Council

1926

Career position - President, Section N (Physiology and Experimental Biology), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1936 - 1937

Career position - Member, Nutrition Advisory Council, Commonwealth Government

1962

Award - Doctor of Medicine (MD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• William Sutherland - Records, 1877 - 1910, MS 023; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Oscar Mendelsohn - Records, 1928 - 1977, MS 1857; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• William Alexander Osborne - Records, 1602 - 1967, MS 5907; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• William Alexander Osborne - Records, 1892 - 1963, MS 8237; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

• William Alexander Osborne - Records, 1899 - 1967; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Currie, George; Graham, John, The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1966), 203 pp, https://ebooks.publish.csiro.au/content/origins-csiro. Details
• Osborne, W. A., William Sutherland: a Biography (Melbourne: Lothian, 1920). Details
• Osborne, William, A Primer of Dietetics (Melbourne: W. Ramsay, 1922). Details

Book Sections

• Jones, Barry O., 'Osborne, William Alexander (1873-1967), professor of physiology, man of letters and broadcaster' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 103-105. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110115b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• 'William Alexander Osborne, 1873-1967', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 34 (12) (1967), 336-337. Details
• Bolton, H. C.; Rae, Ian D., 'A Response to Intellectual Isolation: the Correspondence of W. A. Osborne and William Sutherland, 1905-1911', Historical Records of Australian Science, 10 (4) (1995), 323-335. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9951040323. Details
• Osborne, W. A., 'The Late Captain A. C. H. Rothera', Speculum (1915), 260-3. Details
• Osborne, W. A., 'George Britton Halford: His Life and Work', Medical Journal of Australia (1929), 64-88. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21539149. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/34115225. Details
• 'Osborne, W A (1873-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-635332. Details
• 'Awarded honorary MD, 1962', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. 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_o.html. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_o.html. Details
• Egan, Bryan, Ways of a Hospital: St Vincent's Melbourne 1890s-1990s (St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1993). Pages47, 52, 53, 62, 109. Details
• Flesch, Juliet, ''A Biochemist of the Best Type': The Contribution of Arthur Cecil Hamel Rothera to Biochemistry in Australia', Historical Records of Australian Science, 23 (2) (2012), 120-31, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12015. Details