Used with
permission of Maiken Naylor, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA,
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/exhibits/stamps
Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1899-1985), an Australian, studied the mechanism of immunity and the formation of antibodies. He speculated that the ability to form antibodies in response to a foreign organism or protein in the body, which then combine with it and render it harmless, is not inborn but takes place soon after birth. Exposure to antigens of an embryo produced immunological tolerance. For this he shared the Nobel prize in medicine and physiology in 1960. His clonal selection theory of acquired immunity is of great importance for organ transplants. This Australian stamp is one of a set of four equally illegible issues crowded with text.