I was executor of the will of Alfred Gottschalk, FAA, who died in 1973, and at his request I arranged for $35,000 to be donated to Australian Academy of Science as an endowment to support the award of a medal to a young scientist, who was not a Fellow, for distinguished research in medical or biological science. The first award was made in 1979. 20 years later, looking over the list of recipients, I realised that biomedical scientists had received by far the most awards, and I saw the need for another similar award for non-medical biology. Given Gottschalk’s background in biomedical research, and my broad interests in the conservation of biological diversity as well as virology and preventive medicine, I decided, after consultation with the Academy Council, to set up a fund for a medal in biological science, the Gottschalk Medal being awarded for biomedical research. Having donated enough to cease further support for the Environment Fund, I started in 1997 to make donations for a medal in biological sciences, which Council, following precedent, named the Fenner Medal for Plant and Animal Sciences, to be awarded annually for research in biology, excluding the biomedical sciences, carried out by a scientist under the age of 40 years who is not a Fellow of the Academy (Fenner, 2005c). The first award was made in 2000 and the endowment reached the required total of $100,000 in 2001.