Talk:Macfarlane Burnet

assessment of the article

Petaholmes, I think this article is in great shape, overall. It does a nice job of explaining the significance of Burnet's work, and the topical structure is solid. The prose becomes a little weaker in the last couple sections, but it has all the important information the hypothetical reader will want.--ragesoss 15:55, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Few comments

While I don't know much about the standards for biography articles, this one looks very good to me - nicely explains the subject's personal history and major contributions.

• In the early life section, there's a sentence about what books and magazines he read - this is awfully specific information to have without a footnote and as someone unfamiliar with that literature, I'm not sure why those specific titles are relevant.
• Maybe this is a modern view, but he was both a resident pathologist and a ship's surgeon?
  • By my reading he was just a suregon when he was on the boat.
• "...although turned out to be another toxin that had caused the children's deaths" - did his work seriously contribute to the resolution of the vaccine problem, or is this mentioned mostly to illustrate how he became interested in immunology?
  • Not as far as I can tell, but it did occupy about a year of his time and it did make his start to think about and experiment in immunology.
• The immunology section could use some sub-sub-sections; it's a very long block of text otherwise.
  • I don't think this is a problem since all the text is about immunology; plus I can't think of a logical way to subdivide it.
• There are occasional minor tone issues ("skilled administrator", "dubious distinction", "overcame shyness to become a good public speaker")
  • Fixed except the public speaking bit; overcoming shyness is something most of his bios talk about.
• Also minor copyedits needed, eg "From the late 1960s and 1970s, he was also vocal in the anti-smoking movement in the 1960s and 1970s", "he was operated on for".
• Perhaps more could be said on his opinion of molecular biology? Did he change his mind later? Were his comments part of a larger dispute at the time or were they mostly his personal opinions?
  • Personal opinions, have added a bit more.
• Last sentence has a typo: of->if.
  • I can't spot it.

Opabinia regalis 02:28, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

• Thanks. --Peta 00:41, 4 October 2006 (UTC)
• i heard the person who was responsible for his award was his wife? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.180.144.75 (talk) 07:14, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Linkfix Dump

For the meaning behind the madness see User:Edward Z. Yang/LinkFix dump.

================================================================================
LinkFix Dump
Frank Macfarlane Burnet
2006-10-03.19-38-08
================================================================================
12  [[Virologist]] -> [[Virology]]
17  [[Geelong College]] -> [[The Geelong College]]
19  [[H.G. Wells]] -> [[H. G. Wells]]
19  [[Agnostic]] -> [[Agnosticism]]
19  [[Typhoid]] -> [[Typhoid fever]]
21  [[Lister Institute]] -> [[The Lister Institute for Preventative Medicine]]
30  [[Wellcome Foundation]] -> [[Wellcome Trust]]
30  [[Poxvirus]] -> [[Poxviridae]]
35  [[Hematopoietic stem cell]] -> [[Pluripotential hemopoietic stem cell]]
36  [[Autoimmune disease]] -> [[Autoimmunity]]
52  [[Haemolytic anaemia]] -> [[Hemolytic anemia]]
66  [[Lancet]] -> DISAMBIG
75  [[Hahnemann Medical College]] -> [[Drexel University]]
77  [[Commonwealth of Dominica]] -> [[Dominica]]
# DONE

— Edward Z. Yang^(Talk) 23:48, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Para3 in Immunology

There's an in-text comment that points out an inaccuracy in the article; can someone who understands the topic better than I address the complaint? Josh Parris 12:52, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Frank_Macfarlane_Burnet#Immunology

I removed what looked like an extraneous editorial comment in square brackets. I hope someone who has a clue about immunology will check to make sure the section says true things. --Milkbreath (talk) 15:30, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Frank_Macfarlane_Burnet#Public_health_and_policy

It says: "His role on the committee enabled his interest in human biology." What is this supposed to mean? It looks like some "vogue" use of "enabled" or elegant variation on "piqued", but it is nonsense to me. --Milkbreath (talk) 15:39, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Frank_Macfarlane_Burnet#Later_life

I was faced with a choice. Depending on a comma, he wrote about "immunology, ageing and cancer, and human biology" or "immunology, ageing, and cancer and human biology". Does anybody know which it is? --Milkbreath (talk) 15:45, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

This took over two years to get on the main page after getting FA status??

That's quite depressing if true. Xasodfuih (talk) 10:18, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

We have 2,371 FAs, and we feature one on the main page every 24 hours. It usually takes a while. –Juliancolton ^{Tropical Cyclone} 15:47, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

-- Yes it does. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.15.80.188 (talk) 18:52, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Name

True, his full name was Frank Macfarlane Burnet. But was he not better known as "Sir Macfarlane Burnet", particularly when his prenominal was used? I can't recall anyone ever saying "Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet". Can we not have the article titled "Macfarlane Burnet", just as the hon E. G. Whitlam's is Gough Whitlam? -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 19:20, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

We've got redirects in place, specifically to your question Macfarlane Burnet, so references to that name will end up here. Josh Parris 02:24, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I was aware of that, but it doesn't really address my point. Do we have have Gough Whitlam redirecting to Edward Gough Whitlam? No, of course not; it's the other way round because he is generally known as Gough, not Edward or Edward Gough. Same here; he's known generally as Macfarlane, not Frank or Frank Macfarlane. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 07:02, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Okay, as an alternative point: Burnet was known by many monikers (as mentioned in the lead) and one was picked. The others end up here, it's all much of a muchness. Josh Parris 07:50, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Not really. Many people know of "Macfarlane Burnet", but relatively few of them would know his real first name was Frank. Why, on page 1 of today's The Age, there's a list of the Australians of the Year since 1960, and there, large as life, is the first winner: "Sir Macfarlane Burnet". That is the name by which he is generally known, and that is the name his article should have, under Wikipedia policy. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 20:57, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Pedantic point on statement

In the lead there is the referenced statement "Burnet was the most highly decorated and honoured scientist to have worked in Australia." Nothing against Burnet or his honours but Howard Florey was raised to the Baronetcy, quite an honour and more than Burnet's mere lordship. As you can see, this is rather pedantic but perhaps the sentence should be reworded to explain in what ways Burnet was the most decorated & honoured scientist in Oz. --Roisterer (talk) 05:06, 12 September 2013 (UTC)

As this has gone unaddressed for eight years, I have removed the statement. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 17:22, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

External links modified

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External links modified

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WP:URFA/2020

I am reviewing this very old FA as part of WP:URFA/2020, an effort to determine whether old featured articles still meet the featured article criteria.

• This edit has stood for almost a year, leading to concerns about how much else has crept in as this article appears to be unwatched.[1]
• This unanswered query on talk is another indication that the article is not watched.
• This was cut-and-paste, so I have removed it; further, the content was already in the article.
• This Earwig report is problematic.
• Recent scholarly articles that should be incorporated:
  • https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/41/11/1148/5805434?login=true
  • Legacy: https://researchmgt.monash.edu/ws/portalfiles/portal/300631216/300630103_oa.pdf
  • "modern immunology emerged" https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eji.202070065
  • Historical perspectives on psychoneuroimmunology R Ader - Psychoneuroimmunology, stress, and infection, 2020 - taylorfrancis.com … Instead, he contacted one of the most noted immunologists in the world, Sir MacFarlane Burnet, who had revolutionized immunology with his clonal-selection theory of antibody formation. In response to Solomon’s letter, Sir MacFarlane Burnet replied: "I am most skeptical but …
  • https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40656-020-00318-x
  • Most of the article is sourced to Fenner, who was a protege of Burnet, not independent: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40656-017-0140-7
  • https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-020-0306-5
  • https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsnr.2019.0033
  • Historiography and Immunology W Anderson, N Sankaran - Handbook of the Historiography of Biology, 2021 - Springer … Sankaran N (2010b) The bacteriophage, its role in immunology: how Macfarlane Burnet’s phage research shaped his scientific style. Stud Hist Phil Biol Biomed Sci 41:367–375 Sankaran N (2012) The pluripotent history of immunology. AVANT: J Philos Interdiscip Vanguard 3:…
  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6010991/
• See overuse of however and User:John/however. User:Tony1/How to improve your writing on in order to and also.
• The citation style could benefit from the use of sfn, which wasn't in existence when this FA was written.

This is a beautiful biography of an important medical figure that well deserves its featured status, but as the article is unwatched and has not been maintained, I must unfortunately list it at WP:FARGIVEN. Unless someone can take on this article, it should be submitted to Featured article review. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:34, 20 December 2021 (UTC)