Person

Ashby, Eric (1904 - 1992)

Kt FRS

Born
24 August 1904
London, England
Died
22 October 1992
Cambridge, England
Occupation
Plant physiologist, Science administrator and Vice-Chancellor

Summary

Eric Ashby was a noted plant physiologist when he was appointed Professor of Botany at the University of Sydney in 1938. Finding his department had a limited curriculum, poor funding and inadequate facilities, he set about introducing improvements. He initiated classes in plant physiology, and appointed Rutherford Robertson to teach plant biochemistry and Newton Barber to teach cytogenetics. Other improvements included the creation of a physiology laboratory and the acquisition of greenhouses. With the outbreak of WWII Ashby found much of his time involved with the war effort. He established the Australian Scientific Liaison Bureau, which identified and allocated scientific resources; chaired the Australian National Research Council; and was Chief Scientific Liaison Officer for the Medical Equipment Control Committee. From 1944 to 1945 he was Scientific Counsellor to the Australian Legation in Moscow. Ashby was strongly committed to the idea of the wider social responsibility of science, and energetic in advocating for comprehensive improvements in Australian higher education. After the war he returned to the United Kingdom, ultimately being Vice-Chancellor at Queen's University, Belfast, and the University of Cambridge. He received 25 honorary degrees from universities in four continents.

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Details

Chronology

1926 - 1929
Career position - Demonstrator, Imperial College, London
1929 - 1931
Award - Commonwealth Fellowship, University of Chicago, U.S.A.
1931 - 1935
Career position - Lecturer, Imperial College, London
1935 - 1938
Career position - Lecturer (later Reader), University of Bristol, United Kingdom
1935 - 1938
Career position - Secretary, Society for Experimental Biology
1938 - 1946
Career position - Professor of Botany, University of Sydney
1939
Career position - Inaugural Chair, Australasian Association of Scientific Workers
1942
Career position - Member, Army Inventions Directorate, Commonwealth of Australia
1942 - July 1943
Career position - Inaugural Director, Scientific Liaison Bureau, Commonwealth of Australia
1943
Career position - Chair, Australian National Research Council
1944 - 1945
Career position - Scientific Counsellor, Australian Legation, Moscow
1947 - 1950
Career position - Professor of Botany, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
1950 - 1959
Career position - President and Vice-Chancellor, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland
1956
Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt)
1958
Award - Order of St John of Jerusalem (OStJ)
1959 - 1967
Career position - Master, Clare College, University of Cambridge
1961 - 1992
Award - Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1962 - 1963
Career position - President, British Association for the Advancement of Science
1963 - 1992
Award - Fellow, Royal Society, London
1966
Award - DSc (honoris Causa), University of Bath, United Kingdom
1967 - 1975
Career position - Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge
1973
Award - Created Baron Ashby of Brandon in the County of Suffolk (Life Peer)
1973
Award - DLitt (honoris causa), University of Sydney
1973
Award - President and Chancellor, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • Eric Ashby - Records, 1939 - 1942; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Ashby, Eric, Universities in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Council for Educational Research, 1944), 34 pp. Details
  • Ashby, Eric, Challenge to education (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1946), 131 pp. Details
  • Ashby, Eric, Scientist in Russia (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1947), 252 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Ashby, E., 'The place of biology in Australian education', Australian journal of science, 1 (1) (1938), 3-9. Details
  • Cotton, James, 'Scientific attaché in Moscow: the 1944 appointment of Professor Eric Ashby to the Australian Legation in Soviet Russia', Historical records of Australian science, 37 (2026), 11, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR25017. Details
  • Heslop-Harrison, John, 'Eric Ashby Baron Ashby, of Brandon, Suffolk, Kt, 24 August 1904 - 22 October 1992', Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 41 (1995), 2-18, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1995.0001. Details

Resources

See also

McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 12 March 2026

EOAS ID: biogs/P002091b.htm

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