Peter C. Doherty

My characteristics as a scientist stem from a non-conformist upbringing, a sense of being something of an outsider, and looking for different perceptions in everything from novels, to art to experimental results. I like complexity and am delighted by the unexpected. Ideas interest me.

The two things that I miss most when living out of Australia are the bush and the Pacific coast, especially fishing in the surf at night!

This year, 1996, has been designated the 'Year of the Vaccine,' commemorating the 200th anniversary of Edward Jenner's vaccination of James Phipps with cowpox virus and subsequent challenge with smallpox virus. Insight into the nature of viruses, and how viruses interact with mammalian cells, has evolved since the turn of the century.

The thing I love about science is finding out something new and different.

Many key concepts concerning the nature of immunity have originated from the very practical need to control virus infections.

I share Alfred Nobel's conviction that war is the greatest of all human disasters. Infectious disease runs a good second.

There are too few people working in the area of viral pathogenesis and immunity, too little funding, too many problems, and too little time.

The need to deal with pathogens has driven the evolution of the vertebrate immune system, so it should not be surprising that experiments with infectious agents have often illuminated key elements of the underlying mechanisms.