Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation

The Clunies Ross National Science and Technology Award

The Ian Clunies Ross Foundation was established with the support of Australian industry in 1%3 in memory of Sir Ian Clunies Ross. The main aim of the Foundation is to advance science, its communication and application. This year the Foundation inaugurated the Clunies Ross Science and Technology Award, which is presented to encourage the recognition of persons who have actively, constructively and successfully played a siflicant role in the development of OUT nation through the application of science and technology

Michael D Rickard was one of seven outstanding people who were presented with the Award in Melbourne on 17 November 1991. Michael was born in India in 194 1 but lived in New Zealand for

most of his youth. He graduated BVSc with first class honours from the University of Queensland in 1963 and was awarded a PhD from the same University in 1%7. In 1979 he was awarded a DVSc from the University of Melbourne. During his career, he has been the recipient of a numbez of awards including a Univer- sity of Queensland Medal, the Bancroft-Mackerras Medal of the Australian Society for Parasitology, and was elected Fellow of the Australian Society for Parasitology.

Before taking up duties as Chief of the CSIRO Division of Animal Health in April 1989, Michael Rickard was Reader in Veterinary Parasitology and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Melbourne. Following his appointment to CSIRO, he was made a Professorial Research Fellow in the University of Melbourne to foster closer links between the Division and the University.

Professor Rickard’s major research activities have been con- cerned with the immunology, biology, epidemiology and control of tapeworm infections of livestock, and of tapeworms transmis- sible from animals to humans. He has been author, or co-author, of more than 120 scientific publications. He was elected to the Executive Board of the World Federation of Parasitologists in August 1986 and is currently chairing the World Health Or- ganisation Working Group on Immunology of Echinococcosis.

He waked as a veterinary parasitologist for more than 20 years to produce a highly effective vaccine by genetic engineering techniques to protect sheep against Cysricercus ovis. This dis- covery is unique as it is the only immune mechanism developed to control this parasite, which is of significant economic impor- tance to the sheep industry. Its development also provides the means of protection against similar diseases in cattle, pigs and man. Michael Rickard was recognised as a worthy recipient of the Clunies Ross Award for the persistence, leadership and commercial management required to enable this economically important discovery to be made available internationally.

Other recipients of the Award included Ralph Sarich who developed and marketed the revolutionary concept of the orbital internal combustion engine, Donald Metcalf who is distinguished for his work on the regulation of blood cell formation and the control of leukemic cells, and John Gladstones whose application of breeding techniques to crop and pasture legumes has greatly benefited Australian agriculture.

It is particularly appropriate that the Award to Michael Rickard should bear the name of Ian Clunies Ross, an eminent veterinarian and parasitologist, who was best known for his leadership of CSIRO and his advocacy of science and technol- ogy. Veterinarians join with their scientZic colleagues and fellow Australians and congratulate Michael Rickard for his outstanding achievement now recognised by the Clunies Ross Award.

Dr MICHAEL RICKARD

This dead parrot is difunto A question left hanging by John Cleese - what is the value of

a dead parrot? - has finally been resolved by a Barcelona judge. His honour Antonio Nuiiio de la Rosa has ruled that a dead parrot ‘is worth 150 OOO pesetas ($815).

He was awarding damages to Maria del Carmen Dotras, whose parrot (male, green) died, passed away, tumedmoribund, ceased to exist and, in short, became defunct two years ago in the city’s Vall d’Hebron hospital. Ms Dotras, who lives with her mother, had owned the bird for 23 years, since she was 12.

Her family doctor suspected the parrot might be the cause of an allergy her mother had developed. He wanted it to have a blood test, and told her it would be better done by a doctor than a vet. This proved not to be the case.

According to Ms Dotras, the doctors virtually suffocated the bird by putting a towel over its head, and took out six times as much blood as they were told to. Eventually, a consultant ordered it to be put out of its misery. Ms Dotras put the dead bird in the freezer, to facilitate an

autopsy. In fact, the deep freezing made it impossible to deter- mine the cause of death.

But, as Judge Nuiiio de la Rosa observed in judgment - passages of which might have come from a Monty Python script: “The parrot has deceased, and cannot be revived.” He decided the hospital authorities and the doctor responsible should pay a s u m equivalent to the price of a new bird. He dismissed Ms Dotras’s claim for damages of one million pesetas ($5435). This had been based, in part, on the argument that her parrot could talk.

Drawing a fine distinction that will be of assistance in future, similar cases, the judge ruled that it merely “articulated sounds similar to those of people”. If the parrot had been able to talk, he reasoned, “It would have complained”.

John Hooper (Reprinted from the Guardian Weekly, 6 October 1991, with permission of the editor).

24 Australian Veterinary Journal. Vol69, No 1. January 1992