If Fellows have been recognised with an award, please let us know via fellowship@science.org.au so we can consider including it in the next update.
12 December 1927 – 30 April 2024
Professor Adrian Horridge was a neurobiologist elected to the Academy in 1971 for his work in electron microscopy, neuroanatomy, and electrophysiological analyses of coordination in invertebrates. He is known for his extensive body of work on insect photoreceptor optics and responses, crab perception of the sun’s movement, optokinetic memory, and control of crab eye movements. In 1965 he co-wrote Nervous Systems of Invertebrates with Theodore H. Bullock.
Professor Horridge was born in Sheffield, England. He obtained a scholarship to St John’s College Cambridge in 1946 where he completed his honours degree, and then his PhD on the nervous system of invertebrates. In lieu of military service, Professor Horridge worked on new materials for rockets at the Royal Aircraft Establishment. He then worked on sea urchins in Naples, and on coral reefs in the Red Sea, before he was appointed as a lecturer at the Gatty Marine Laboratory in St Andrews, Scotland. He served as Director of the Gatty Marine Laboratory at the University of St Andrews from 1960 until 1969 when he accepted a position as Chair and Founding Professor at the Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University (ANU).
In the 1980s, Professor Horridge established the ANU’s Centre for Visual Sciences with Professor Alan Snyder FAA FRS and Professor Bill Levick FAA FRS. In the 1990s, Professor Horridge worked with the American Air Force to add insect-type vision to aircraft. Professor Horridge also initiated a program on optic flow in insect vision, pursuing applications in robot and drone vision with Professor Mandyam Srinivasan AM FAA FRS.
Professor Horridge was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1969. He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for his service to Australian society in the biological sciences.
Professor Horridge retired from ANU in 1992 but continued to study honeybee vision and to write books. His book The Discovery of a Visual System – The Honeybee was published in 2019. He was interviewed on the subject by Professor Robyn Williams AO FAA for ABC Radio’s The Science Show in January 2020, and was previously interviewed by the Academy in 2002. He contributed to the Academy over many years.
© 2024 Australian Academy of Science
