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An autobiography of leading genetics specialist in the study of ageing.
The perfect present for: lovers of Australian autobiographies and those interested in science and genetics.
Robin Holliday has contributed enormously to our understanding of genetics. Specialising in the study of aging, Holliday pioneered genetic research for over half a century. Born in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1932, Holliday has also lived in England, Sri Lanka, Gibraltar, South Africa, USA and Australia. He obtained a double first class degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge University in 1955, followed by a Ph.D. in genetics in 1959.
His career in scientific research was at the John Innes Institute, Hertford, and the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London, where he was head of a new Genetics Division from 1970-1988. He proposed a DNA configuration with a central role in genetics, now known as the ‘Holliday structure’. He also worked on the processes of ageing and published two books, Understanding Ageing (1995), and Ageing: the Paradox of Life (2007). These explain the biological reasons for ageing. In addition, he was one of the pioneers of a new research field known as epigenetics. In 1988 he moved to Sydney, Australia, where he continued his research until retirement in 1997. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1976, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2005. He has previously published five books, and about 250 scientific papers.
His autobiography, Origins and Outcomes, is not primarily about his scientific career, but about his childhood, education, family in many environments, and his extensive travels, particularly in India, USA and France. After retirement he took up a long-standing interest in sculpture which initiated, in effect, a second career. His many bronze sculptures are exhibited in and around Sydney and have also been exported to the USA and UK.
