Nancy Millis: Difference between revisions

Emeritus Professor '''Nancy Fannie Millis''' [[Companion of the Order of Australia{{post-nominals|country=AUS|AC]] [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|MBE]]|FAA|FTSE|FRSV}} (10 April 1922{{spaced ndash}}29 September 2012) was an [[Australia]]nAustralian [[microbiologist]], and Emeritus Professor who introduced [[fermentation (biochemistry)|fermentation]] technologies to Australia, and created the first applied microbiology course taught in an Australian university.

Millis was born in [[Melbourne]] in 1922, the fifth child of six. She attended high school at Merton Hall, an[[Melbourne AnglicanGirls grammar school for girlsGrammar]], but had to leave before completing her studies when her father had a heart attack. She attended business college, thethen worked for a customs agent and then as a technician at the [[CSIRO]]. Millis Matriculated part-time, taking two years to complete her high school studies. The [[University of Melbourne]] refused her entry into the [[bachelorBachelor of scienceScience]]; however, she could gain entry to the degree of agricultural science,. inIn 1945 she graduated with a BAgSc, and went on to complete a master's degree in 1946 studying the soil organism ''Pseudomonas''.{{Citation inneeded|date=February 1946.2023}}

Millis travelled to [[Papua New Guinea]] with the Department of External Affairs to teach women agricultural methods. However, her posting was cut short due to serious illness that almost claimed her life<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |url=https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/professor-nancy-millis |title=Professor Nancy Millis, microbiologist |publisher= Australian Academy of Science |website=www.science.org.au |access-date=2016-03-10}}</ref> and she was airlifted to hospital in [[Brisbane]]. After recovering from her illness she applied for a Boots Research Scholarship at the [[University of Bristol]]. She spent three years at Bristol working on the fermentation of [[cider]], and microoganismsmicroorganisms that can affect the process. This led Nancy in her lifelong passion in anything that ferments.<ref name="auto"/>

When she completed her [[PhD]] in 1951, Millis returned to Australia; she had hoped to work for Carlton United Brewery, but at that time they did not employ women in their laboratories. She joined the Department of Microbiology at the University of Melbourne in 1952 sheand worked as a demonstrator, and then as a lecturer, setting up the Applied Microbiology course at the University. In 1954 Millis was awarded a [[Fulbright]] Travel Grant,; she went to Hopkins Marine Station at [[Stanford University]] and worked with [[C B Van Neil]], and then to the Institute of Applied Microbiology at the [[University of Tokyo]].

Millis was the Chancellor of [[La Trobe University]] from 1992 until her retirement in 2006.<ref name=administration>{{cite web |title=Past Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors |url=https://www.latrobe.edu.au/about/at-a-glance/history |work=Our history |publisher=[[La Trobe University]] |date=16 March 2018 |access-date=17 April 2018 }}</ref>

She died on 29 September 2012, aged 90.<ref>Tributes & Celebrations, ''The Age'', 2 October 2012, p. 10</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lifescientist.com.au/article/437942/vale_nancy_millis_ac_australia_first_lady_biotechnology/ |title=Vale Nancy Millis AC, Australia's "first lady" of biotechnology - genetically modified organisms, agriculture, microbiology, Biotechnology -|publisher= Australian Life Scientist |publisherwebsite= Lifescientist.com.au |access-date=2012-10-02 |accessdateurl-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016032443/http://www.lifescientist.com.au/article/437942/vale_nancy_millis_ac_australia_first_lady_biotechnology/ |archive-date=2012-10-0216 }}</ref>

==Honours and legacy==

{{reflistReflist}}

*{{cite web |author= McCarthy, G.J. [|url=http://www.asapeoas.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcsinfo/biogs/P001521b.htm |title= Millis, Nancy Fannie (1922 - 2012)], 2004|date= 18 October 2012 |work= Biographical entry |publisher= Encyclopaedia of Australian Science }}

*Morrison, S. (2001). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120923060100/http://www.science.org.au/scientists/interviews/m/nm.html Australian Academy of Science: "Interview with Professor Nancy Millis"], 2001Australian Academy of Science

{{s-aft|after= [[Sylvia Walton]] }}

[[Category:Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire]]