In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1899
- Died
- 1985
- Birthplace
- Traralgon, Victoria, Australia
- Country
- Australia
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Immunological tolerance
- Nobel collaborator
- Peter Medawar
- Research colleague
- Joyce Stone
- Institutional leadership
- WEHI, 1944โ1965
Why this life matters
His theoretical work made cellular selection central to questions of immune recognition.
Timeline
Key moments
Medical degrees
University of Melbourne.
Nobel recognition
Shared for acquired immunological tolerance.
New phase
Left the directorship; continued writing.
Medicine and laboratory research
Burnet trained in medicine at Melbourne and began research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Periods at the Lister Institute and the National Institute for Medical Research widened his experience before a long Melbourne career.
Sources for this section: [2]
Viruses before the famous immune theory
Much of his experimental work concerned influenza and other viruses. Collaborators included W. I. B. Beveridge and Joyce Stone; their shared work linked observations of infection with methods for studying viral behaviour.
The later reputation as an immunological theorist should not erase this substantial experimental career.
Theories that could be compared
In his Nobel lecture he credited Medawarโs experimental work and concentrated on theory. He considered both elimination of self-reactive clones and inhibition of particular reactions, asking how each could account for tolerance.
The 1960 award was shared with Medawar.
A later life of writing and scientific service
After leaving WEHIโs directorship, Burnet worked at Melbourneโs School of Microbiology and served as Academy president. He wrote books on immunology, human biology, ageing and cancer. He left the school in 1978 but continued writing at home until his final illness.
He died in 1985.
His theories belong to a particular stage of scientific debate; they are not a substitute for contemporary clinical evidence.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Macfarlane Burnet
- Was his whole laboratory career immunology?
- No. Virology was a substantial part of his research.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Peter Doherty
Compare a related scientific working life and its research setting.
- Susumu Tonegawa
Continue with another career connecting experiments, collaboration and interpretation.
- Peter Medawar
Read the transplantation researcher who shared the 1960 prize.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Nobel Prize Outreach, 1960 historicalaward recordSir Frank Macfarlane Burnet: Facts
The Nobel facts page gives Melbourne as deathplace; the Academy memoir says Port Fairy. Deathplace is withheld rather than conflating the accounts.
- 2. Nobel Foundation, 1960/edited 1964 historicalbiographySir Frank Macfarlane Burnet: Biographical
- 3. F. J. Fenner, Australian Academy of Science memoirFrank Macfarlane Burnet 1899โ1985
- 4. Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, past directorsSir Frank Macfarlane Burnet
- 5. Frank M. Burnet, Nobel lecture, 12 December 1960Immunological Recognition of Self
The lecture distinguishes theory from Medawarโs experimental account. Historical mechanisms are presented in their 1960 scope, not as a complete modern model.
