Gustav Nossal

It was while he was working at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at Sydney that he married his wife, Lyn.

Over the years, other than being involved in research work and scientific discovery, he has been heavily involved in charitable work and is the patron of a number of organizations.

Several institutions of research and study have been named in his honor including The Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne and The Nossal High School located at the Berwick campus of Monash University

Gustav Nossal was born as Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal on June 4, 1931 in Bad Ischl, Austria.

Since his paternal lineage was Jewish, the Nossal family was at a risk during Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria, despite young Nossal being baptized as Roman Catholic. To evade danger, the family shifted base to Australia in 1939

Completing his preliminary education, he enrolled at the St Aloysius' College. Interestingly, in spite of not knowing English, he graduated from the same as the dux of the College in 1947.

Following year, he attained admission at the Sydney Medical School, from where he graduated with first-class honors, earning a BSc in Medicine in 1953 and a Bachelor in Surgery in 1955.

Completing his studies, he took up a job in Sydney at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital but did not continue in the same for long and in 1957, he moved to Melbourne, where he started working with Macfarlane Burnet in medical science at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. In 1960, he earned his PhD degree from University of Melbourne.

Meanwhile for two years, from 1959 to 1961, he served as the Assistant Professor of Genetics at the Stanford University before returning to Australia to work with Burnet.

Following Burnet’s retirement in 1965, he took up the latter position and served as the Director of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, which he continued until 1996. However, this wasn’t the only profile that he was holding. He concurrently served as the professor of biology at the University of Melbourne.

For a year each in 1968 and later in 1976, he served at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and later as a Special Consultant to the World Health Organization.

During his term as the Director of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, he not just helped in the expansion and diversification of the institute’s research work but also built on the work started off by his mentor, thus laying the foundation of modern immunology.

For his extensive contribution in the field of medical research and science, in 1970, he was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Seven years later in 1977, he was knighted for his revolutionary discovery in the field of immunology.

In 1982, he was conferred with the ANZAAS medal.

For his service in the field of research, medicine and science, he was bestowed with the prestigious honor of Companion of the Order of Australia in 1989.

In 1990, he was conferred with the highly-esteemed Albert Einstein World Award of Science.