Biographical entry Florey, Howard Walter (1898 - 1968)

Summary

(Sir/Baron) Howard Walter Florey was Professor of Pathology, University of Sheffield 1931-35 and at the University of Oxford 1935-62. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine in 1945 for work on penicillin and was Chancellor of the Australian National University 1965-68. Florey was educated at the Universities of Adelaide (MB, BS), Oxford (MA, BSc) and Cambridge (PhD 1927).

Details

Events

1921

Education - Rhodes Scholar for South Australia

1925

Career position - Rockefeller Travelling Fellow in the United States

1927 - ?

Career position - Huddersfield Lecturer in Special Pathology at the University of Cambridge, UK

1931 - 1935

Career position - Joseph Hunter Professor of Pathology at the University of Sheffield, UK

1941 -

Award - Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)

1944

Award - Knighted

1945

Award - Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine received (shared with E. Chain and A. Fleming)

1960 - 1965

Career position - First Australian President of the Royal Society

1962 -

Career position - Professor of Pathology and Head of the Pathology School at the University of Oxford, UK

1965

Award - Life Peer

1965 - 1968

Career position - Chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra

Related entries

Archival resources

John Curtin School of Medical Research

• Howard Walter Florey - Records, 1945 - 1955; John Curtin School of Medical Research. Details

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

• Howard Walter Florey - Records, 1905 - 1967, DeB 220-221; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Powerhouse Museum

• Royal de Rohan Barondes, 1944 - 1955, 99/30/1:3, 2002/87/1; Powerhouse Museum. Details

Published resources

Books

• Bickel, Lennard, Florey, the Man who Made Penicillin., Sun Books, South Melbourne, 1983. Details
• Lax, Eric, The Mould in Dr Florey's Coat: the Remarkable True Story of the Penicillin Miracle, Little, Brown, London, 2004, 389 pp. Details
• MacFarlane, Robert Gwyn, Howard Florey, The Making of a Great Scientist, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979. Details
• Williams, Trevor I., Howard Florey: Penicillin and After, Oxford University Press, London, 1984, 417 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Beale, R, 'Howard Walter Florey', in Australia's Nobel Laureates - Adventures in Innovation, ABIE Australian Business and Investment Explorer, Sydney, 2004, pp. 34-43. Details
• Fenner, Frank, 'Florey, Howard Walter, Baron Florey of Adelaide and Marston (1898-1968), medical scientist', in John Ritchie (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 14, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 188-190. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140202b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Fenner, Frank, 'Obituary: Howard Walter Florey: Baron of Adelaide and Marston', Australian Journal of Science, vol. 31, no. 1, 1968, pp. 37-39. Details
• Florey, Howard, 'David Rivett Memorial Lecture. The Development of Modern Science', Australian Journal of Science, vol. 26, 1963, pp. 99-105. Details
• Florey, Howard, 'Development of Modern Science', Australian Journal of Science, vol. 26, no. 4, 1963, pp. 99-105. Details
• Wernert, Gregory T., 'Howard Florey: the Man behind Penicillin', Chemistry in Australia, vol. 65, no. 8, 1998, pp. 21-25. Details

Online Resources

• 'The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945 'for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases'', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1945/index.html. Details
• 'Sir Howard Walter Florey - Biography', in Nobel e-Museum, 1996, http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1945/florey-bio.html. Details
• 'Howard Florey - development of the first antibiotic, penicillin', in The 1997 Australian Science Festival, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/other/asf_scientists.htm#howard. Details
• Tallpoppies: Florey, Australian Institute of Political Science, 1998, http://www.tallpoppies.net.au/florey/. Details
• 'Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine Act 1971', in Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents Home Page, 2003, http://www.dms.dpc.vic.gov.au/. Details
• National Library of Australia, 'Florey, Howard', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-582921. Details
• Sherratt, Tim; et al, 'Howard Florey', a Bright Sparcs Exhibition, Australian Science Archives Project, Canberra, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/nobel/florey.htm. Details
• Sutherland, Denise, 'Sir Howard Florey - a driven spirit', Australasian Science, Febuary 1998, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/journal/as_florey.htm. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/scripts/tia-dynindex.php3?EID=P000415. Details
• Courtice, F. C., 'Bede Morris, 1927-1988', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 8, no. 1, 1989, pp. 15-36. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9890810015.htm. Details
• Davies, Susan, 'R. v.d. R. Wooley in Australia', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 6, no. 1, 1984, pp. 59-69. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9840610059.htm. Details
• Newton, J. O., 'Ernest William Titterton 1916-1990', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 9, no. 2, 1992, pp. 167-187. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9920920167.htm. Details
• Redgrave, T. G., 'Wilfred John Simmonds 1918-1990', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 8, no. 4, 1991, pp. 265-275. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9910840265.htm. Details