The Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture is a biennial award given by the Australian Academy of Science to recognise outstanding scientific research in the biological sciences. [1]
It was established in 1971 and honours the memory of the Nobel laureate Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, OM KBE MD FAA FRS, the Australian virologist best known for his contributions to immunology and is the academy's highest award for biological sciences.
Source: Australian Academy of Science
Sir Peter Brian Medawar was a Brazilian-British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants. For his scientific works, he is regarded as the "father of transplantation". He is remembered for his wit both in person and in popular writings. Famous zoologists such as Richard Dawkins referred to him as "the wittiest of all scientific writers", and Stephen Jay Gould as "the cleverest man I have ever known".
Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet,, usually known as Macfarlane or Mac Burnet, was an Australian virologist known for his contributions to immunology. He won a Nobel Prize in 1960 for predicting acquired immune tolerance and he developed the theory of clonal selection.
Frank John Fenner was an Australian scientist with a distinguished career in the field of virology. His two greatest achievements are cited as overseeing the eradication of smallpox, and the attempted control of Australia's rabbit plague through the introduction of Myxoma virus.
Sir Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal is an Austrian-born Australian research biologist. He is famous for his contributions to the fields of antibody formation and immunological tolerance.
The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Society and operates under a Royal Charter; as such, it is an independent body, but it has government endorsement. The Academy Secretariat is in Canberra, at the Shine Dome.
Jerry McKee Adams, FAA, FRS, FAHMS, FRSV is an Australian-American molecular biologist whose research into the genetics of haemopoietic differentiation and malignancy, led him and his wife, Professor Suzanne Cory, to be the first two scientists to pioneer gene cloning techniques in Australia, and to successfully clone mammalian genes.
Jacques Francis Albert Pierre Miller AC FRS FAA is a French-Australian research scientist. He is known for having discovered the function of the thymus and for the identification, in mammalian species of the two major subsets of lymphocytes and their function.
James Meadows Rendel was an Australian agricultural scientist who specialised in animal genetics and was Chief of the CSIRO Division of Animal Genetics from 1959 to 1976. He was the grandson of Lytton Strachey's sister Dorothy Bussy, and the nephew of Frances Partridge.
Suzanne Cory is an Australian molecular biologist. She has worked on the genetics of the immune system and cancer and has lobbied her country to invest in science. She is married to fellow scientist Jerry Adams, also a WEHI scientist, whom she met while studying for her PhD at the University of Cambridge, England.
Geoffrey Burnstock was a neurobiologist and President of the Autonomic Neuroscience Centre of the UCL Medical School. He is best known for coining the term purinergic signalling, which he discovered in the 1970s. He retired in October 2017 at the age of 88.
William James Peacock, is an Australian molecular biologist who was Chief Scientist of Australia (2006–2008), President of the Australian Academy of Science (2002–2006) and Chief of CSIRO Plant Industry (1978–2003).
Eric John Underwood AO, CBE was an Australian scientist who pioneered research into sheep nutrition and wool production.
Sir Rutherford Ness "Bob" Robertson AC CMG FAA FRS HFRSE was an Australian botanist and biologist, and winner of the Clarke Medal in 1955.
Jennifer Ann Marshall Graves is an Australian geneticist. She is Distinguished Professor within the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Australia and Professor Emeritus of the Australian National University.
Stephen James Simpson is the executive director of Obesity Australia and the academic director of the Charles Perkins Centre.
The James Cook Medal is awarded on an occasional basis by the Royal Society of New South Wales for "outstanding contributions to science and human welfare in and for the Southern Hemisphere". It was established in 1947 from funds donated by Henry Ferdinand Halloran, a member of the Society.
The Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture of the Australian Academy of Science is awarded biennially to recognise exceptional research by Australian scientists in the physical sciences. Nominations can only be made by Academy Fellows.
Frank William Ernest Gibson was an Australian biochemist and molecular biologist, Howard Florey Professor of Medical Research in the John Curtin School of Medical Research, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London He undertook his most notable work at the University of Melbourne. He and his research group were responsible for the discovery of chorismic acid. He later worked at The Australian National University (ANU).
Grant Robert Sutherland is a retired Australian human geneticist and celebrated cytogeneticist. He was the Director, Department of Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics, Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital for 27 years (1975-2002), then became the Foundation Research Fellow there until 2007. He is an Emeritus Professor in the Departments of Paediatrics and Genetics at the University of Adelaide.