The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

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Remembering Professor Frank Fenner

 

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute staff are mourning the loss of one of the great minds of Australian science following this morning’s death of acclaimed virologist and microbiologist Professor Frank Fenner.

Professor Fenner was best known for his work in eradicating smallpox and for his studies of the myxomatosis virus, used to control rabbit plagues from the 1950s.

For a short but influential time in the late 1940s, Professor Fenner worked at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. He joined the institute in 1946, having just returned from service in World War II where, stationed in Egypt and Papua New Guinea as an officer in the Australian Army Medical Corps, he studied the malaria parasite.

Professor Fenner was recruited by then director Sir Macfarlane Burnet to work on Ectromelia, or mousepox as he later called it. He spent two and a half years studying the virus to prove that mousepox was closely related to the virus that causes smallpox.

Through a series of detailed experiments Professor Fenner showed that the resemblance to smallpox was very close, that mousepox was essentially ‘smallpox in mice’. Professor Fenner and Sir Macfarlane Burnet showed that mice could be vaccinated against mousepox with vaccinia virus, another poxvirus historically used to vaccinate humans against smallpox.

Professor Fenner and Sir Macfarlane Burnet remained close friends, and co-authored The Production of Antibodies, a key publication in immunology that outlines Burnet’s seminal ideas about ‘self’ and ‘non-self’ in the immune system, which led to the award of the Nobel prize to Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Sir Peter Medawar in 1960.

Professor Fenner's work at the institute cemented his interest and involvement in virology, particularly poxviruses, which were to be his lasting legacy and contribution to science and human health.

Professor Phil Hodgkin, head of immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, worked with Professor Fenner at the John Curtin School of Medical Research during the 1980s and 1990s.

He remembers Professor Fenner as an “incredibly generous scientist”. “Frank retired in 1981, but had an emeritus appointment and came to work at 7am every morning, continuing his routine until a few years ago. He loved to come to morning tea and talk with the students and postdocs. We always felt very privileged to be in his company, to hear his stories and to be guided by his wisdom and experience,” Professor Hodgkin said.

“It seemed like everything he did was very meticulous and careful and accurate. His scholarship was unparalleled. Even in his 90s he was writing books. He just loved finding out everything he could about a subject and imparting that to as wide an audience as he could. He was an inspiration for generations of scientists and epitomised the dedicated humanitarian academic.”

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