Douglas Wright (physiologist)

Sir Roy Douglas Wright AK (7 August 1907 – 28 February 1990) was an Australian physiologist and eminent academic administrator.

Biography

He was born in Central Castra, Tasmania. He became Professor of Physiology at the University of Melbourne from 1939 to 1971 and was later Chancellor of the University from 1980 to 1989.[1] He advised the leaders of the optometry profession who were responsible for setting up the Victorian College of Optometry in 1939 and 1940 and helped plan the first four-year optometry course. He was involved again when the optometry course was transferred to the university.

Wright married Julia Violet Bell, a nurse, on 24 September 1932 at Camperdown, Victoria; they subsequently divorced. On 22 July 1964 he married Meriel Antoinette Winchester Wilmot, his secretary since 1941, in the registry office, Kensington, England.[2]

The young Roy Douglas Wright of the 1930s sported circular glasses frames,[3] while an older, more refined Wright turned his attention to a more edgy rectangular frame style by the early 1980s.[4]

He was a colourful supporter of causes, as his biography Pansy Wright — A biography of Roy Douglas Wright by Peter McPhee (1999) attests. He challenged students, colleagues and institutions, asserting at one time: "Whatever you do, whether you do it well or do it badly, do it brilliantly. Avoid mediocrity on all accounts".

In the Australia Day Honours of 1983, he was made a Knight of the Order of Australia (AK).[5]

He was the brother of Sir Reg Wright, a long-serving Liberal Senator from Tasmania, who was also knighted, and who died only ten days later, on 10 March 1990.[6] His eldest brother, John Forsyth Wright was a Member of the House of Assembly in the Parliament of Tasmania.[7]

See also
  • Peter McPhee, Pansy Wright: a biography of Roy Douglas Wright, 1999.

References
  1. "Wright, (Roy) Douglas (1907 - 1990)". Biographical entry, Faculty of Science. University of Melbourne. 16 November 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  2. McPhee, Peter (2012). "Wright, Sir Roy Douglas". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 18. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  3. "University Chancellors, Roy Douglas Wright, Professor Emeritus, Sir (1907-1990)". Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  4. "The first issue of Chiron, 1983". Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  5. "Knight of the Order of Australia (AK) entry for Emeritus Professor (Roy) Douglas Wright". It's an Honour, Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 January 1983. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  6. Bennett, Scott (2010). "Wright, Sir Reginald Charles (1905–1990) Senator for Tasmania, 1950–78". The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  7. "John Forsyth Wright". Members of the Parliament of Tasmania. Retrieved 5 February 2023.

 

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