‘Finally telling her story’: Trailblazer in science recognised with honorary degree

Rosamond (Rose) Mason, one of The Australian National University’s original cohort of PhD graduates in 1955, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science. 

In a unique ceremony at her aged care home in Canberra on Monday, Dr Mason was recognised for her exceptional contributions to experimental neuroscience, particularly in the founding years of ANU. 

Dr Mason, 95, is the daughter of the University’s first home-grown Nobel Prize winner Sir John Eccles, the University’s foundation Professor of Physiology. She became Australia’s first female neuroscientist.

She worked closely with her father in the lab at the John Curtin School of Medical Research, and a strong case can be made that Sir John’s 1963 Nobel Prize was underpinned by his daughter’s work. Dr Mason co-authored 25 papers with her father, most of them on the electrical properties of neurons in the spinal cord and the associated muscles. 

“Dr Mason’s work is hugely important, and she is one of the significant voices Australian science,” ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Genevieve Bell said. 

Dr Mason published 63 papers that have received 7,330 citations, giving an average of 116 citations per publication. These are excellent metrics even by today’s standards but are exceptional when seen in the context of the 1950s and 60s, her gender, and the fact Dr Mason was obliged to give up her research career in her 30s after starting a family. 

In addition to Dr Mason’s considerable contributions to science at ANU, her community-minded values and desire to help others continued through the rest of her life.  

Following the birth of her severely disabled third child in 1974, she gave up her scientific endeavours to help others in the community while keeping strong connections with ANU.  

She served as an invigilator for more than 25 years, as an examination scribe for people with vision or other disabilities, and as a mentor to young scientists. 

She served the Girl Guide Community on many boards and committees for over 25 years, the Book Council of Australia Committee and numerous disability committees.  

She also led the first after-school program for children with disabilities at the Turner Primary School and ran the program for over 10 years. 

On receiving the degree on Monday, Dr Mason said it had been a big surprise. 

“I’m very proud to see a lot of people who are friends of mine or who work at the ANU here”, she said. 

“The ANU knows there are still things to be done in the academic world, and I hope you all support your friends and relatives who take up these important roles. It’s not easy in this world to find something good and fulfilling and needing to be done, so I hope you all support them.” 

Dr Mason hoped her story would inspire more young people to get involved with science, her daughter Kate Mason said. 

“She’s been understated her whole life. In fact, at [her aged care home] BaptistCare Griffith they didn’t even know she had a PhD and published over 70 academic papers,” Ms Mason said. 

“It’s only in the last five or 10 years that we’ve had her talking about her science background, because there was always other things to talk about. 

“There’s so many extraordinary women who have been trailblazers in their chosen field over many many years, and I think telling more stories to inspire this and the next generation is one of the most important things we can do. 

“If we inspire one more young person with this story to go into science, Rose will be eternally happy.” 

Ms Mason said seeing her mother receive the honorary degree was one of the highlights of her life. 

“I’ve had a range of emotions leading up to today – I’m extraordinarily proud of my mother,” she said.  

“I was extraordinarily frustrated that we weren’t going to tell her story in time, and I’ve watched her significant decline over the last two or three months, and just thinking that I wanted her to have the recognition that she should have had if she was a man in the 1960s. 

“So today is this massive dream come true. To see her recognised – not just for all of her community efforts – but for her scientific efforts and how much she has inspired some of the best scientific minds in the world.  

“The fact that she’s still cited, and the fact that no one knows her story, it’s just… I’m very very relieved that we’re finally telling her story.” 

Director of the Eccles Institute of Neuroscience at the ANU Professor John Watson was a key figure in helping tell Dr Mason’s story, working closely with Ms Mason ahead of the special congregation. 

An avid history lover and storyteller, Professor Watson reached out to the family more than two years ago to learn more about Dr Mason and to meet her himself. 

“You could argue – all Nobel prizes depend on teamwork – but the core of her team, John Eccles’ team, was his daughter and his chief technical officer Jack Coombs. Coombs was the person who could build anything, and Rose was the person who could make any experiment work,” Professor Watson said. 

“One can make an exceptionally strong case that Rose deserves the highest accolades and respect for what she did and published in an era when women weren’t doing much of this.”

Dean of the ANU College of Health and Medicine, Professor Russell Gruen said there were two main reasons to honour Dr Mason’s contribution to science. 

“Firstly, she was an eminent neuroscientist in her own right and deserves that recognition, especially during the times in which she was working,” he said. 

“Secondly, there’s a matter of justice here. Her father was a great scientist, but much of the work that contributed to the Nobel Prize was the work of his daughter, Rose. To bring her out of the shadows is important for our University and the global neuroscience community.” 

Professor Watson agreed. 

“Her legacy, it’s interesting, exemplary and wide-ranging” he said.  

“You’ve got to go back to her dad a bit – her dad was a magnet: the whole world came to Canberra to work with Eccles.  

“But his daughter Rose was very instrumental in that. She genuinely and generously helped a lot of then-young scientists to get going in the game, and she had the knack of making difficult experiments work. And in experimental neuroscience, that is a very important thing.  

“Her own papers are important, widely cited and pioneering, and more than enough for her to be recognised as an individual; but it was much more than this – she helped to create a world-famous team that attracted so many from around the world to come and work in Canberra with them, and she was definitely part of that attraction.  

“I know that her father travelled around the world a great deal – he’d always come back with new ideas and new technologies to implement, and while he was on the road I am sure that Rose helped to keep the home fires burning.  

“There are so many people who have made huge contributions to the affairs of the world – not just science. Many of their stories are not well known, and many of them have never been given a voice, or have sought a voice.   

“We’re now giving Rose, in my opinion, the absolute recognition that she’s always deserved.” 

This article first appeared at ANU College of Health and Medicine.