Frank Fenner

Frank John Fenner was an Australian scientist who made remarkable contributions in the field of virology. He was born on December 21, 1914 in Ballarat, Victoria, to Albert and Peggy Fenner, both teachers. He attended the University of Adelaide, where he earned degrees in medicine and surgery in 1938 and a Doctor of Medicine in 1942. He also received a Diploma of Tropical Medicine from the University of Sydney in 1940. During World War II, he served as a medical officer in the Australian Army Medical Corps, where he worked on malaria and other infectious diseases in various countries. After the war, he joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, where he worked with Frank Macfarlane Burnet on smallpox and poxvirus genetics. In 1949, he received a fellowship to study at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, where he worked on mycobacterium Bairnsdale bacillus, which causes Buruli ulcer. In 1949, he was appointed as the first professor of microbiology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra. There he began his research on myxoma virus, which was used to control Australia's rabbit plague. He also studied viral genetics, immunology, and epidemiology. He became the director of the school from 1967 to 1973. Fenner's most notable achievement was his role in overseeing the global eradication of smallpox. He was appointed as the chairman of the Global Commission for Certification of Smallpox Eradication in 1977. He announced the official eradication of the disease to the World Health Assembly on May 8, 1980. Fenner was also involved in environmental and resource studies. In 1973, he founded the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at ANU, where he worked until his retirement in 1979. He then returned to the John Curtin School as an emeritus professor and continued his research until his death. Fenner was married to Ellen Margaret Bobbie Roberts from 1943 until her death from cancer in 1994. They adopted two daughters, Marilyn and Victoria. Victoria committed suicide in 1958 at the age of eight. Fenner died from pneumonia on November 22, 2010 in Canberra. Fenner was widely recognized for his scientific achievements and received many honors and awards. He was a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Society of London, and the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. He was also a Companion of the Order of Australia, a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, and a Member of the Order of the British Empire. He received numerous medals and prizes, including the Japan Prize, the Copley Medal, and the Albert Einstein World Award of Science. Fenner's legacy lives on through his publications, his students, and his contributions to science and society. The Australian Academy of Science awards annually the Fenner Medal for distinguished research in biology by a scientist under 40 years of age. The Fenner School of Environment and Society at ANU is named after him. He is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest scientists and a global hero for public health. [^10^]