Founded in 1948, the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR), Australian National University, is Australia's national medical research institute. The School was conceptualized by Australia-born Baron Howard Florey, who won the Nobel Prize in 1945 for his contribution to creating penicillin as a drug while working at Oxford University.

We are named after Australia's wartime Prime Minister, John Curtin, who was very supportive of Florey's concept for an Australian-based, world-class, medical research School. JCSMR rapidly achieved international prominence and recognition. A former Director, Professor Frank Fenner, was the Chairman of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication.

Nobel laureates

We have had the distinction of three of our investigators receiving Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine for work conducted here:

1996

Professor Peter Doherty AC FAAS »

The Nobel Prize for Medicine Peter Doherty shares the 1996 Nobel Prize in Medicine with his ANU colleague Rolf Zinkernagel for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence.

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1996

Professor Rolf Martin Zinkernagel AC HonDSc FAAS »

The Nobel Prize for Medicine of Physiology Rolf Zinkernagel shares the 1996 Nobel Prize in Medicine with his ANU colleague Peter Doherty for their discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell-mediated immune defence.

Download Nobel Lecture (PDF 1.1MB)

 

1963

Sir John Eccles AC FRS FRACP FRSNZ FAAS »

Sir John Eccles shares the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Alan L. Hodgkin and Andrew F. Huxley for discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane.

Download Nobel Lecture (PDF 383KB)