Activities for 2002
Professor Frank Fenner

On 8 April 2002, I gave a lecture on smallpox eradication to the Sydney University Medical Graduates Association. From 13 to 16 April I attended the Annual Meeting of the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases, in the Barossa Valley. On 12-14 July I attended a conference of Sustainable Population Australia, in Adelaide From 30 July to 1 August I attended the Fenner Conference on the Environment, "Redesigning Agriculture" , held in Canberra. From 29 September to 3 October I attended the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Society for Microbiology in Melbourne, where I gave a paper "Bioterrorism, with especial Reference to Smallpox". Professor Frank Fenner wins Australia's pre-eminent 2002 science award - the Prime Minister's Prize for Science. Photo: Irene Dowdy / AUSPIC

From 20 to 22 October I attended the Frank and Bobbie Fenner Conference on "Vaccines for the Twentyfirst Century", held in Canberra and from 1 to 4 December I attended the Western Pacific Conference on Chemotherapy and Infectious Diseases, where I gave the opening address, "What has History Taught us about Infectious Diseases".

During the year I served on the Smallpox Expert Group, the Infectious Disease Emergency Response Group, and the Chemical, Biological, Radiological Commonwealth/State Forum of the Department of Health and Ageing and on the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.

In March 2002 I received the Clunies Ross Science and Technology Lifetime Award; in August the Prime Minister's Prize for Science and in November the ACT Australian of the Year Award. Each of these, especially the PM's Prize, was accompanied by a lot of media attention with TV and newspaper interviews.   Professor Frank Fenner with Prime Minister John Howard Photo: Irene Dowdy / AUSPIC

My principal preoccupation during the year, apart from preparing publications (listed here), was the completion of my own archives (for the Basser Library) and the archives of my father's work as a geologist/geographer and education administrator for the Basser Library of the Australian Academy of Science and The State Library of South Australia.