Conversations with Australian scientists

Nancy Millis received a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in 1945, a Master of Agricultural Science in 1948 and a Doctorate in Science (Hon) in 1993, all from the University of Melbourne. She was awarded a Boots Research Scholarship in the UK and used it to study at the University of Bristol where she received a PhD in 1952. Her doctoral research was on microbial growth and fermentation in cider that started her lifelong interest in anything that ferments.

Neville Fletcher was born in Armidale, NSW in 1930. He was educated at Armidale Demonstration School (1935-41) and at Armidale High School (1942-46). He attended New England University College, which was part of Sydney University, receiving a BSc in 1951. Fletcher then went to Harvard University where he gained a PhD in 1955 for his research on impurity levels in semiconductors.

Professor Nick Hoogenraad interviewed by Professor David Vaux 25 November 2010. Nicolaas Johannes (Nick) Hoogenraad was born in The Hague, Holland in 1942. He then spent part of his childhood in Indonesia before immigrating to Australia in 1952. At fifteen, Hoogenraad went to sea but soon returned to finish his secondary schooling at McLeod High School.

Professor Noel Sydney Hush interviewed by Professor Robyn Williams in 2011. Noel Sydney Hush was born in Sydney in 1924. He finished secondary school in 1941 and began university the following year. Hush completed a BSc Hons (1945) and MSc (1948) from the University of Sydney. For the latter part of this time he worked as a research fellow in the Department of Chemistry (1945-49).

Professor Pamela Rickard interviewed by Ms Marian Heard in 2001. Pamela Rickard was born in 1928 in Sydney. After completing her intermediate certificate at high school, she spent five years working in the library of the Daily Telegraph newspaper and another five years working as a legal secretary before deciding to attend university.

Professor Paul Korner interviewed by Professor John Chalmers in 2008. Paul Korner was born in 1925 in Moravská Ostrava in Czechoskovakia (now the Czech Republic). At age 13, Korner, along with his mother, father and brother, fled to England to escape the Nazis. After spending a year in England the family emigrated to the safety of Australia.

Professor Peter Bishop interviewed by Dr Max Blythe in 1996. Professor Peter Bishop was born in 1917 in Tamworth, New South Wales. He received a BMBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) from the University of Sydney in 1940. He served in the Navy during World War II then went to England where he began his work in neurophysiology.

Peter Doherty was born in 1940 in Brisbane. He attended veterinary school at the University of Queensland, and went on to complete his PhD at Edinburgh University. He took up a post-doctoral position with the John Curtin School of Medicine Research, where he researched how the body’s immune cells protect against viruses.

Professor Peter Rathjen interviewed by Ms Marian Heard in 2001. Peter Rathjen studied as an undergraduate in the Department of Biochemistry at Adelaide University, working in part as a member of the team that discovered RNA self-processing in viroids. As a 1985 Rhodes Scholar he undertook a DPhil at Oxford University, studying mobile genetic elements in yeast and mammals.

Professor Priscilla Kincaid-Smith was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She received her BSc (Hons) in 1946 then studied medicine, graduating in 1950 with a BMBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery). From 1951 to 1953, she worked at the Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg. In 1953 Kincaid-Smith went to London to study pathology at the Hammersmith Hospital on a project that initiated her interest in kidneys, blood vessels and high blood pressure.