Professor Richard Hobbs FAA—2021 inductee into the Western Australian Science Hall of Fame
31 July 1930 – 6 August 2021
Professor Roger Short was a reproductive biologist elected to the Academy in 1984 for his outstanding contributions to knowledge of the comparative endocrinology of reproduction in domestic, laboratory and wild animals, and in humans.
After studying veterinary science at Bristol University, Professor Short completed a master in genetics at the University of Wisconsin as a Fulbright Scholar and then his PhD at Cambridge. He remained at Cambridge until 1972 when he was appointed Director of the Medical Research Council Unit of Reproductive Biology and honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh. In 1982 Professor Short moved to Australia to take up a personal Chair as Professor of Reproductive Biology at the Department of Physiology at Monash University. Professor Short’s interest in the growing global impact of HIV/AIDS saw him seconded to the World Health Organization (Geneva) in 1989. In 1995 he left Monash and joined the Department of Obstetrics at the University of Melbourne. In 2006 he was made an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the university, where he continued to teach and conduct research for many years.
Professor Short received many prizes and awards in recognition of this work throughout his career, including honorary doctorates of science from Guelph (Canada), Edinburgh and Bristol. He was awarded scientific medals from the Zoological Society of London and the Society for Endocrinology. Professor Short was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He also received honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Foreign Membership of the Royal Society of Sciences of Uppsala. Professor Short received the Marshall Medal of the Society for Reproduction and Fertility (UK) and the Carl G Hartman Award from the Society for the Study of Reproduction (USA). He also received a Centenary medal and was made a member of the Order of Australia.
Professor Short gave his time generously to the Academy and served on numerous committees. He served on the Academy Council, on EXCOM as Vice-President of the Academy, and on the Vice-President’s Committee.
Professor Short was interviewed for the Academy by Academy Fellow Professor Robyn Williams in 2010. He was married to Academy Fellow Professor Marilyn Renfree.
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