Adrienne Elizabeth Clarke AC FAA FTSE (née Petty; born 6 January 1938) is professor emeritus of Botany at the University of Melbourne, where she ran the Plant Cell Biology Research Centre from 1982 to 1999.
She is a former chairman of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, 1991–1996), former Lieutenant Governor of Victoria (1997–2000) and former Chancellor of La Trobe University (2011–2017).
[1] She attended Ruyton Girls' School and entered the University of Melbourne in 1955 where she was a resident of Janet Clarke Hall (then still part of Trinity College) reading Science.
[1] Clarke's scientific work provided critical insight to the biochemistry and genetics of flowering plants, their reproduction, and their growth.
[4] She describes her expertise as: She is co-editor of major scientific books dealing with chemistry, cell biology and genetics.