P002091 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

These key entries are listed separately below with other indexes and lists.

 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn updated 2026-04-22 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P002091b.htm person Ashby Eric Kt FRS AACR2 24 August 1904 22 October 1992 Place of Birth London, England Place of Death Cambridge, England Plant physiologist Vice-Chancellor Science administrator Eric Ashby was a noted plant physiologist when he was appointed Professor of Botany at the University of Sydney in 1938. Finding his department had a limited curriculum, poor funding and inadequate facilities, he set about introducing improvements. He initiated classes in plant physiology, and appointed Rutherford Robertson to teach plant biochemistry and Newton Barber to teach cytogenetics. Other improvements included the creation of a physiology laboratory and the acquisition of greenhouses. With the outbreak of WWII Ashby found much of his time involved with the war effort. He established the Australian Scientific Liaison Bureau, which identified and allocated scientific resources; chaired the Australian National Research Council; and was Chief Scientific Liaison Officer for the Medical Equipment Control Committee. From 1944 to 1945 he was Scientific Counsellor to the Australian Legation in Moscow. Ashby was strongly committed to the idea of the wider social responsibility of science, and energetic in advocating for comprehensive improvements in Australian higher education. After the war he returned to the United Kingdom, ultimately being Vice-Chancellor at Queen's University, Belfast, and the University of Cambridge. He received 25 honorary degrees from universities in four continents. 1926 1929 Career position - Demonstrator, Imperial College, London 1929 1931 Award - Commonwealth Fellowship, University of Chicago, U.S.A. 1931 1935 Career position - Lecturer, Imperial College, London 1935 1938 Career position - Lecturer (later Reader), University of Bristol, United Kingdom 1935 1938 Career position - Secretary, Society for Experimental Biology 1938 1946 Career position - Professor of Botany, University of Sydney 1939 1939 Career position - Inaugural Chair, Australasian Association of Scientific Workers 1942 1942 Career position - Member, Army Inventions Directorate, Commonwealth of Australia 1942 July 1943 Career position - Inaugural Director, Scientific Liaison Bureau, Commonwealth of Australia 1943 1943 Career position - Chair, Australian National Research Council 1944 1945 Career position - Scientific Counsellor, Australian Legation, Moscow 1947 1950 Career position - Professor of Botany, University of Manchester, United Kingdom 1950 1959 Career position - President and Vice-Chancellor, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland 1956 1956 Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) 1958 1958 Award - Order of St John of Jerusalem (OStJ) 1959 1967 Career position - Master, Clare College, University of Cambridge 1961 1992 Award - Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1962 1963 Career position - President, British Association for the Advancement of Science 1963 1992 Award - Fellow, Royal Society, London 1966 1966 Award - DSc (honoris Causa), University of Bath, United Kingdom 1967 1975 Career position - Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge 1973 1973 Award - Created Baron Ashby of Brandon in the County of Suffolk (Life Peer) 1973 1973 Award - DLitt (honoris causa), University of Sydney 1973 1973 Award - President and Chancellor, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland Barber, Horace Newton (1914 - 1971) Robertson, Rutherford Ness (Bob) (1913 - 2001) Australian Association of Scientific Workers (1939 - 1949)

Chair 1939

 Scientific Liaison Bureau, Commonwealth of Australia (1942 - 1945)

Director 1942 - 1943

 Australian National Research Council (ANRC) (1919 - 1955)

Chair 1943

 The University of Sydney (1850 - )

Professor of Botany 1938 - 1946

 Army Inventions Directorate, Commonwealth of Australia (1942 - 1946)

Member 1942

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Ashby, Eric (1904-1992)

Trove

 'Ashby, Eric', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Ashby, Eric Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book: Challenge to education Ashby, Eric Challenge to education Sydney Angus and Robertson 1946 Book: Universities in Australia Ashby, Eric Universities in Australia Melbourne Australian Council for Educational Research 1944 Book: Scientist in Russia Ashby, Eric Scientist in Russia Harmondsworth, Middlesex Penguin Books 1947 Journal Article: The place of biology in Australian education Ashby, E. The place of biology in Australian education 1938 Australian journal of science 1 1 3-9 Journal Article: Eric Ashby Baron Ashby, of Brandon, Suffolk, Kt, 24 August 1904 - 22 October 1992 Heslop-Harrison, John Eric Ashby Baron Ashby, of Brandon, Suffolk, Kt, 24 August 1904 - 22 October 1992 1995 Biographical memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 41 2-18 Journal Article: Scientific attaché in Moscow: the 1944 appointment of Professor Eric Ashby to the Australian Legation in Soviet Russia Cotton, James Scientific attaché in Moscow: the 1944 appointment of Professor Eric Ashby to the Australian Legation in Soviet Russia 2026 Historical records of Australian science 37 11 Journal Article: Victor Martin Trikojus, 1902-1985 Legge, J. W.; and Gibson, F. Victor Martin Trikojus, 1902-1985 1987 Historical Records of Australian Science 6 4 519-531 Eric Ashby - Records The University of Melbourne Archives Eric Ashby - Records 1939 - 1942 Records in the V.M. Trikojus collection including correspondence and reports of the Medical Equipment Control Committee 1939-41 (File 19/1) and correspondence, notes and reports of the Australian Association of Scientific Workers, Drugs Sub-Committee relating to sulphaguanidine, dysentery, atebrin, zephinan, Dengue fever mosquito, corbasone, merthiosal and phenobarbitone 1942 (Files 19/11, 19/13, 19/14). 4 files