Gustav Nossal

Sir Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal (born 4 June 1931) is an Austrian-born Australian research biologist.

His family left their home town of Vienna for Australia in 1939 following Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria.

In an interview with Adam Spencer, Nossal noted that his father was not a professing Jew but of Jewish ethnicity as he had been baptised a Roman Catholic as a child.

At the age of 26, he left his job in Sydney and moved to Melbourne to work with Macfarlane Burnet in medical science at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and gained his PhD degree at the University of Melbourne in 1960.

On describing his views on religion Nossal said: For me, a large part of that is a tremendously strong identification with the mission of the Church.

Nossal has been President (1970-1973) of the 30,000-member world body of immunology, the International Union of Immunological Societies; President of the Australian Academy of Science (1994-1998); a member of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) (1989 to 1998); and Chairman of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (1987-1996).

Sir Gustav is a member of the Patrons Council of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria and of the advisory board of the Health Impact Fund.