Sydney Rubbo

Abstract

Born in Sydney in 1911, Sydney Dattilo Rubbo was educated at Sydney Boys’ High School and the University of Sydney (BSc, 1934) before travelling to London to further his studies. He obtained a diploma in bacteriology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (1935) and was awarded a scholarship for microbiological research at the University of London (PhD, 1937). Returning to Australia in 1937, Rubbo took up an appointment as a senior lecturer in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Melbourne where he taught students of medicine, dentistry, science and agricultural science. A ‘brilliant and provocative lecturer’, he inspired a generation of students. He also studied and completed a medical degree (MB, BS, 1943) and in 1945, at the age of 33, was appointed Professor of Bacteriology (Microbiology from 1964), a position he held until 1969.