Frank Fenner grew up in Adelaide, South Australia, and studied science and medicine at the University of Adelaide. He served in the Australian Army Medical Corps in World War II, when he worked to combat malaria in Papua New Guinea. He oversaw the World Health Organisation (WHO) smallpox eradication program in the 1960s and 1970s. He also worked on the control of the Australian rabbit plague through the introduction of the myzoma virus. His awards include the Order of St Michael and St George - Companion (1976), the Japan Prize (with D. A. Henderson and I. Arita) in 1988, the Copley Medal (1995), and the Albert Einstein World Award of Science (2000). He published an autobiography/biography of his own life and that of his father, scientist Charles Fenner, in 2001.
Source: Bridie Smith, 'The Man Who Killed Smallpox Dies at 95', The Age (23 November 2010): 1-2; Rosslyn Beeby, 'Scientific Giant Ahead of His Time, The Canberra Times (23 November 2010): 3.
