Robertson, Thorburn Brailsford (1884 - 1930)

Summary

Brailsford Robertson was a pioneering biochemist whose research focused on the physical chemistry of proteins in relation to growth, and animal nutrition, in which field he gained international recognition. At the University of Adelaide where he was Professor in physiology and biochemistry from 1919 to 1930 he established the modern discipline of biochemistry and formed the Animal Products Research Foundation. Robertson played a pivotal role during the early 1920s in establishing insulin manufacture in Australia within a year of the discovery of its relationship to diabetes. He discovered the growth hormone tethelin, while his book The chemical basis of growth and senescence (1923) earned him the description of Australia's first gerontologist. With John Cleland and Frederick Wood Jones he founded both the Medical Sciences Club of South Australia and, in 1924, the Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science. In 1927 Robertson was appointed to Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to form what became the Division of Animal Nutrition.

Details

Chronology

1892

Life event - Migrated to Australia

1905

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Adelaide

1906 - 1910

Career position - Assistant Lecturer, Department of Physiology, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

1907

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

1908

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Adelaide

1910 - 1917

Career position - Associate Professor of Physiological Chemistry and Pharmacology, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

1917 - 1918

Career position - Professor of Physiological Chemistry and Pharmacology, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

1918 - 1919

Career position - Professor of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Canada

1919 - 1926

Career position - Professor of Physiology, University of Adelaide

1921 -

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

1926

Career position - Inaugural Member, Board of Anthropological Research

1926 - 1930

Award - Foreign Member, Reale Academia Nazionale, Italy

1926 - 1930

Career position - Professor of Biochemistry and Physiology, University of Adelaide

1928 - 1930

Career position - Director, animal nutrition laboratory, CSIR

Related entries

Archival resources

Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide

• Thorburn Brailsford Robertson - Records, 1902 - 1922, 574.19/B65a; Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide. Details

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Corporate Records and Archives Strategies

• Thorburn Brailsford Robertson - Records, 1912 - 1930, S23,24,25 and others; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Corporate Records and Archives Strategies. Details

Private hands (Robertson, D.S.)

• Thorburn Brailsford Robertson - Records, 1902 - 1932; Private hands (Robertson, D.S.). Details

State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana

• Thorburn Brailsford Robertson - Records, 1892 - 1957, PRG 136; State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Rogers, G. E., 'Robertson, Thorburn Brailsford (1884-1930), Biochemist and Professor' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 416-417. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110429b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Bolton, H. C.; Coller, B.A.W., 'Two Letters of William Sutherland to T. Brailsford Robertson: Ideas on the Electrical Conductivity of Proteins', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (4) (1993), 357-368. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9930940357. Details
• Dawbarn, M. C., 'Thorburn Brailsford Robertson bibliography', Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science, 9 (1) (1932), 7-21. Details
• Everett, A. V., 'The work of Brailsford Robertson, a pioneer experimental gerontologist', Gerontologia, 4 (1960), 60-75. Details
• Marston, Hedley, R., 'Thorburn Brailsford Robertson', Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 9 (1) (1932), 1-5. Details
• Rogers, George E., 'Thorburn Brailsford Robertson: brilliant scholar, innovator and Australia's first Professor of Biochemistry', Historical Records of Australian Science, 28 (2) (2017), 99-110, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR17002. Details
• Schedvin, C. B., 'Environment, Economy and Australian Biology 1890-1939', Historical Studies, 21 (1984), 11-28. Details
• W., H., 'Thorburn Brailsford Robertson (1884 - 1930)', Biochemical Journal, 24 (3) (1930), 37-8. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7796176. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/22502968. Details
• 'Robertson, T Brailsford (18840304-19300118)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1235999. Details

See also

• 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. pages 8-10, 152. Details
• French, E. L.; and Stewart, D.F., 'Lionel Bately Bull, 1889-1978', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (4) (1983), 90-110. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9830540090. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
• Stephens, C.G.; and Quirk, J.P., 'James Arthur Prescott 1890-1987', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (3) (1988), 299-313. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9880730299. Details