White, Michael James Denham (1910 - 1983)

Summary

Michael White was Professor of Zoology 1958-1964 and then Professor of Genetics 1964-1975, University of Melbourne. From 1976 he was a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Population Biology at the Australian National University. He made important contributions to many aspects of cytology and cytogenetics and to evolutionary biology, including speciation theory and systematics.

Details

Born London, England, 20 August 1910. Died Canberra, 16 December 1983. Educated University of London (BSc (Hons) 1931, MSc 1932, DSc 1940). MSc, University of Melbourne, 1959. Assistant Lecturer in Zoology, University College London 1932-35, Lecturer in Zoology 1935-40; Rockefeller Research Fellow, Columbia University, United States of America 1937-38; Wartime positions as Statistician and Entomologist, British Ministry of Food 1940-45; Reader in Zoology, University of London 1945-47; Guest Investigator, Department of Genetics, Carnegie Institute of Washington, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 1947; Professor of Zoology, University of Texas 1947-53; Senior Research Fellow, Genetics Section, Division of Plant Industry, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Canberra 1953-56; Associate Professor, then Professor of Zoology, University of Missouri 1957-58; Professor of Zoology, University of Melbourne 1958-64; Professor of Genetics, University of Melbourne 1964-75; Visiting Fellow, Department of Population Biology, Australian National University 1976-83. Fellow, Australian Academy of Science 1955, Fellow, Royal Society 1961; Honorary Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1963; Mueller Medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 1965; Foreign Member, American Philosophical Society 1978; Socio Straniero, Accademia Nazionale dei Lencei 1978; Medal for Research, Royal Society of Victoria 1979; Foreign Associate, United States National Academy of Sciences 1981; Linnean Medal for Zoology, Linnean Society of London 1983; Minerva Medal, University of Rome 1983. President, Section D, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 1962; President, Genetics Society of Australia 1970-72, Honorary Member 1980; President, Australian Entomological Society 1969-71.

Chronology

1953 - 1956

Career position - Senior Research Fellow, Genetics Section, CSIRO Division of Plant Industry

1955 - 1983

Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)

1958 - 1964

Career position - Professor of Zoology, University of Melbourne

1961 - 1983

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

1962

Career position - President, Section D, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1964 - 1975

Career position - Professor of Genetics, University of Melbourne

1965

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

1969 - 1971

Career position - President, Australian Entomological Society

1970 - 1972

Career position - President, Genetics Society of Australia

1979

Award - Royal Society of Victoria Medal for Excellence in Scientific Research

1980 - 1983

Award - Honorary Member, Genetics Society of Australia

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Michael James Denham White - Records, 1973 - 1978, MS 078; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO

• Michael James Denham White - Records, 1948 - 1972; Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO. Details

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Michael James Denham White - Records, 1926 - 1985; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Wellcome Collection

• Victoria Eugenics Society, 1940 - 1961, SA/EUG/E.4; Eugenics Society [SA/EUG]; Wellcome Collection. 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

• McCarthy, Gavan; Manhal, Oscar, The Records of Michael James Denham White (1910-1983) (Melbourne: Australian Science Archives Project, 1989), 112 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Peacock, Jim, 'White, Michael James Denham (1910-183), Zoologist and Geneticist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2012), pp. 591-2. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/white-michael-james-15875. Details
• Sapp, Jan, 'Geographic Isolation and the Origin of Species: the Migrations of Michael White' in International Science and National Scientific Identity: Australia between Britain and America, R. W. Home and Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, eds (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991), pp. 233-254. Details

Conference Papers

• McCann, Doug, 'Notes on Biography and Historiography of Science - the Life and Work of Michael White', in Recovering Science: Strategies and Models for the Past, Present and Future: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the University of Melbourne, October 1992 edited by Tim Sherratt, Lisa Jooste and Rosanne Clayton (Canberra: Australian Science Archives Project, 1995), pp. 29-34.. Details

Journal Articles

• Peacock, W. J.; and McCann, D., 'Michael James Denham White 1910-1983', Historical Records of Australian Science, 10 (2) (1994), 143-161. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9941020143. Details
• Peacock, William James and McCann, D., 'Michael James Denham White, 20 August 1910 - 16 December 1983, elected FRS 1961', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 40 (1994), 403-19. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1994.0047. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6831538. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/5028542. Details
• McCarthy, Gavan; Manhal, Oscar; McCann, Doug, Michael James Denham White Guide to Records, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 2004, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/guides/whit/white.htm. Details
• 'White, M J D (19100820-19831216)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-543113. Details

Resource Sections

• 'White, Michael James Denham - Ms 78', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms078.html. Details
• Peacock, W. J.; and McCann, D., 'Michael James Denham White 1910-1983', in Australian Academy of Science Biographical Memoirs, Australian Academy of Science, 2006, https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/biographical-memoirs/michael-james-denham-white-1910-1983. Details
• Ward, C., 'Michael James Denham White', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 2011, https://csiropedia.csiro.au/White-Michael-James-Denham. Details

See also

• Dahlitz, Ray, Secular who's who : a biographical directory of freethinkers, secularists, rationalists, humanists and others involved in Australia's secular movement from 1850 onwards (Balwyn, Victoria: R. Dahlitz, 1994), 192 pp. p.120. Details
• Danks, D.; Duffield, A.; Sargeson, A., 'Berthold Halpern 1923-1980', Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (4) (1983), 72-81. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9830540072. Details