Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet and the clonal selection theory of antibody formation

Abstract

Sir Macfarlane Burnet has been one of the twentieth century's outstanding biologists. In the years 1941-1956, Burnet focused his effort on the elaboration of a theory of antibody synthesis, the clonal selection theory, capable of bridging the gap between physiological findings, such as the kinetics of antibody production, self-tolerance and immunological memory on the one hand, and the newest ideas on synthesis of proteins, on the other. At the time of writing the clonal selection theory, Burnet was 57 years old and the Director of the Water and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia.