Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1899 – 1985) was an Australian virologist best
known for his contributions to immunology. He conducted pioneering research
on bacteriophages and viruses at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute,
Melbourne, and served as director of the Institute from 1944 to 1965.
Burnet's research on viruses resulted in significant discoveries concerning
their nature and replication and their interaction with the immune system.
From the mid-1950s, he worked extensively in immunology
and was a major
contributor to the theory of clonal selection, which explains how
lymphocytes target antigens for destruction. Burnet and Peter Medawar were
co-recipients of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for
demonstrating acquired immune tolerance. This research provided the
experimental basis for inducing immune tolerance—the platform for developing
methods of transplanting solid organs. Burnet left the Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute in 1965, and continued to work at the University of Melbourne
until his official retirement in 1978. During his working life he wrote 31
books and monographs and more than 500 scientific papers.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Macfarlane_Burnet
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Thomas Venner and the Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempted to seize
control of London from the newly restored government of Charles II.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Monarchists)
1781:
At the Battle of Jersey, British forces stopped France's last attempt to
militarily invade Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English
Channel.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jersey)
1838:
Samuel Morse and his assistant Alfred Vail successfully tested the
electrical telegraph for the first time at Speedwell Ironworks in
Morristown, New Jersey, USA.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph)
1907:
Italian educator Maria Montessori opened her first school and day care
center for working class children in Rome.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori)
1995:
A suspicious fire in a Manila flat led to the foiling of the Bojinka Plot, a
precursor to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bojinka_Plot)
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
interject (v) 1. To insert something between other things.
2. To interpose oneself; to intervene.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/interject)
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we
kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love. --Khalil
Gibran
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran)