Australian Dictionary of Biography

Clifford Emmens, 1990

Australian Academy of Science, 237000151

Clifford Walter Emmens (1913–1999), endocrine physiologist and biometrician, was born on 9 December 1913 at Peckham, London, youngest of three children of Walter James Emmens, insurance loss assessor, and his wife Narissa Louise, née Pugh. Cliff, as he was known to his close colleagues and friends in his later years, was educated at Purley County School for Boys, from where he won a scholarship to the University of London, studying at the South Eastern Agricultural College, Wye, Kent. After one year there, he transferred to University College, London (BSc Hons, 1935; MSc, 1936; PhD, 1939; DSc, 1947), where he studied zoology and physiology. On 10 April 1937 at All Saints’ Church, Kenley, Surrey, he married Muriel Edith Bristow, a ballet dancer. His doctoral thesis, which he completed under the supervision of Sir Henry Dale, was titled ‘Studies on the Biological Activity of Gonadal Hormones’; he would later be awarded a doctorate of science for his ongoing research in that endocrine discipline.

From 1937 to 1942 Emmens was a scientific officer at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) at Mill Hill, London, investigating the chemical nature and reproductive function of oestrogenic steroid hormones. As World War II continued, he was seconded to theResearch and Experiments Department of the Ministry of Home Security at Oxford, to work with Solly (Baron) Zuckerman. There he analysed the effects of air raids on the productivity and morale of towns in Britain and Germany, using his developing skills as a statistician. Granted an honorary commission as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force, he examined the impact of bombing in the Mediterranean as a member of the Bombing Survey Unit, based at Palermo, Sicily; later he undertook similar work with the Bombing Analysis Unit and the British Bombing Survey Unit. He used his statistical proficiency to produce a monograph on the application of such methods to experimental biology, entitled Principles of Biological Assay (1948).

Back at the NIMR following the war, Emmens was employed in the laboratory of (Sir) Alan S. Parkes, studying factors affecting sperm motility and survival, with the eventual aim of preserving functional sperm by storage at low temperatures. In 1947 he was invited to take up a two-year position as head of a new department of veterinary physiology at the University of Sydney, with the prospect of subsequent appointment as professor of veterinary physiology. Arriving in Sydney with his family in 1948, he initiated a wide-ranging research program, at first directed at the preservation of viable sperm by freezing and its use in artificial insemination. His expertise in biometric assays was then applied to detect and quantify oestrogenic steroids, including synthetic compounds with oestrogenic activity such as stilboestrol and dimethylstilboestrol. This research evolved into the discovery and synthesis of chemicals that had anti-fertility activity—a search for the ideal oral contraceptive. Although the research received financial support from pharmaceutical companies, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the World Health Organization, no substance was found that could be widely and safely used to control human fertility.

After his initial appointment to create the department, Emmens was confirmed as the inaugural professor in 1950. He developed the teaching of animal physiology to veterinary science undergraduates, so that the discipline was covered by year-long courses in the second and third years of their five-year degree. As an effective but strict administrator, he was twice recommended for the position of dean of the faculty, but because he was not a qualified veterinarian, these nominations were not successful. Nevertheless, he was held in high esteem by his academic colleagues. His administrative skills were also recognised outside the university. In 1952 he was appointed for two years as part-time officer-in-charge of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization’s sheep biology laboratory at Prospect, while continuing as head of veterinary physiology at the university.

During his career, and after his retirement in 1978, Emmens produced over two hundred publications, including several books. He was fascinated by freshwater and marine life, and his Sydney home had an extensive collection of aquariums with tropical and cold-water fish. As an expert aquarist, he published a number of books on the biology and the practical skills of fish breeding and aquarium management. The impact of his research, teaching, and promotion of studies on animal physiology was recognised by honours and awards, including the Istituto Spallanzani medal (1958) and the Oliver Bird medal (1961). In 1956 he was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and from 1965 to 1968 served on its council. A founding member of the Endocrine Society of Australia, he twice served as its president (1960–62 and 1963–64), and in 1982 was made a life member. He was also active in the Australian Society for Reproductive Biology (chairman 1973–77), the Family Planning Association of Australia, the CSIRO advisory committee, the Therapeutic Goods Standards Committee, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, among others. In 1978 he was elected an honorary lifetime fellow of the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists, and in 1982 the University of Sydney awarded him an honorary doctorate of veterinary science.

Black-haired, with a black moustache and ‘almost mesmeric brown eyes,’ Emmens was once described as having ‘the fluency of an advertising executive, and the uninhibited enthusiasm of a Groucho Marx’ (McKie 1950, 17). Besides his interest in tropical fish, he enjoyed ballroom dancing and judo. As a department head he seemed to some ‘a benevolent dictator,’ who ‘fostered independent thought and effort’ (Stone and Wales 2004, 56). He died on 18 June 1999 at Mosman, survived by his two daughters, Jane and Harriet, and was cremated; his wife and their two sons, Roger Leonard (b.d. 1942) and Roger Lyle (d. 1993), had predeceased him.