Immunologist Peter Doherty AC was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1996. He was Australian of the Year in 1997, and is the best-selling author of Sentinel Chickens: What birds tell us about our health and the world, Pandemics, The Beginner’s Guide to Winning the Nobel Prize: A Life in Science and A Light History of Hot Air.

Awards Peter Doherty is a member or foreign associate of the national science academies of Australia, the UK (FRS), the USA and Russia, along with the US Institute of Medicine and the French Academy of Medicine. Apart from the Nobel, he and Rolf Zinkernagel were recognized by the Paul Ehrlich Prize (Germany, 1983), a Gairdner International Award (Canada 1986), and a Lasker Basic Science Award (USA, 1995). He has honorary doctorates from 22 universities and is an honorary fellow or member of numerous learned and professional organizations. His face has appeared on an Australian postage stamp, he has buildings named after him in Melbourne and Edinburgh, and a street in his hometown of Brisbane. Other awards that have given him particular pleasure are the Martin Luther King Award (Memphis), a Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award, being an honorary fellow of the undergraduate Literary and Historical Society at the National University of Ireland, and the Ulysses Medal (he is married to Penelope) from the same university.

Research Interests Starting out as a young veterinary scientist investigating infectious diseases of domestic animals, the 1973 discovery that led to the Nobel Prize caused him to switch his interests to basic biomedical research. His long-term focus is on the cellular immune response in virus infections, a theme that he continues to pursue for influenza in programs at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis. Following the Nobel in 1996, his experiences while Australian of the Year in 1997 led him into the area of science communication which, after realizing the limitations of trying to interact with the broader community via the print and broadcast media, caused him to embark on a part-time career as an author, so far in the non-fiction area.

He has just completed his fourth effort, and has a number of future titles in mind.

Nobel prize winners, Nobel Prize,