Editing Howard Florey (section)

== Rhodes Scholar ==
Florey decided to pursue medical research, a speciality that required study overseas. In August 1920, he applied for a [[Rhodes Scholarship]] to pursue his studies at the [[University of Oxford]] in England. His selection as the successful candidate for South Australia was announced on 8 December. This was a high honour, and came with a stipend of £300 ({{Inflation|AU|600|1920|fmt=eq|r=-3}}). The Rhodes Committee wanted him to commence in October, the start of the academic year at Oxford. This meant either postponing his scholarship for a year or deferring his final qualifying examinations for his medical degrees until he returned. Florey insisted that he would do neither; he would take his examinations and start at Oxford at the commencement of the [[Hilary term]] in January 1922. With the aid of the [[Governor of South Australia]], Sir [[Archibald Weigall]], Florey won the argument.{{sfn|Williams|1984|pp=9–10}}{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=50–52}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165915004 |title=Rhodes Scholar for 1921 |newspaper=[[The Observer (Adelaide)|Observer]] |volume=LXXVII |issue=5,838 |location=South Australia |date=11 December 1920 |access-date=27 January 2023 |page=30 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025104230/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165915004 |url-status=live }}</ref> He passed his examinations with [[second-class honours]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63353466 |title=University of Adelaide |newspaper=[[South Australian Register|The Register]] |volume=LXXXVI |issue=25,351 |location=South Australia |date=1 December 1921 |access-date=28 January 2023 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025104213/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63353466 |url-status=live }}</ref> and he was awarded his [[Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery]] degree in absentia in December 1921.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63346360 |title=University Commemoration |newspaper=[[South Australian Register|The Register]] |volume=LXXXVI |issue=25,258 |location=South Australia |date=9 December 1921 |access-date=28 January 2023 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025104249/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63346360 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the summer break he went to [[Broken Hill Hospital]], where he worked as a clinical assistant.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|p=53}}

On 11 December 1921, Florey embarked for England from [[Port Adelaide]]  on the SS ''Otira'', an [[ocean liner]] of the [[Shaw, Savill & Albion Line]], travelling for free as the ship's surgeon.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=54–56}} The ship reached [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] on 24 January 1922, and Florey took a train to London, where his sister Anne met him at [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross Station]]. Two days later he left for [[Oxford]], where he met with the Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, [[Francis James Wylie]]. He had to choose a college, and he chose to study at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]],{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=58–61}}{{sfn|Williams|1984|pp=12–13}} where his high school headmaster, [[Henry Girdlestone]], had gone.{{sfn|Williams|1984|p=4}}<ref>{{cite AuDB |first=Selwyn M. |last=Owen |title=Girdlestone, Henry (1863–1926) |id=girdlestone-henry-6394/text10929 |year=1983 |access-date=14 August 2023}}</ref> He enrolled in the honour school of physiology,{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|p=61}} where he studied under the tutelage of Sir [[Charles Scott Sherrington]].{{sfn|Todman|2008|p=613|ps=. "His mentor was the neurophysiologist and Nobel Laureate, Sir Charles Sherrington who directed him in neuroscience research. Florey's initial studies on the cerebral circulation represent an original contribution to medical knowledge and highlight his remarkable scientific method. The mentorship and close personal relationship with Sherrington was a crucial factor in Florey's early research career."}} During the summer breaks he visited France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Austria. He became a [[Academic ranks in the United Kingdom#Pathways|demonstrator]] in the physiology department, and he applied for a fellowship in physiology at [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]], but was passed over in favour of [[Gavin de Beer]].{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=73–79}} He was awarded the degree of [[Bachelor of Arts]] in 1924.<ref name="ADB" /> At Sherrington's instigation, he studied the [[cerebral cortex]] of cats. A paper was published in ''[[Brain (journal)|Brain]]'' in March 1925.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Microscopical Observations on the Circulation of the Blood in the Cerebral Cortex |first=Howard |last=Florey |journal=Brain |issn=0006-8950 |volume=48 |issue=1 |date=1 March 1925 |pages=43–64 |doi=10.1093/brain/48.1.43 }}</ref> His thesis on "The capillary circulation together with associated observations made in connexion with this investigation" was later examined by [[John Scott Haldane]] and [[John Gillies Priestley]] on 2 May 1925, and he was awarded a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree.{{sfn|Abraham|1971|pp=256–257}}

Florey was elected to a John Lucas Walker Studentship at the [[University of Cambridge]] for the 1924–1925 academic year.{{sfn|Abraham|1971|pp=256–257}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64060123 |title=Examination Successes |newspaper=[[South Australian Register|The Register]] |volume=LXXXIX |issue=26,191 |location=South Australia |date=5 December 1924 |access-date=28 January 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025104254/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/64060123 |url-status=live }}</ref> This came with a stipend of £300 plus £200 for equipment. Before taking up this new position, he participated in the [[List of Arctic expeditions#20th century|1924 Oxford University Arctic Expedition]] as the medical officer.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|pp=82–87}} In July 1925, he won a fellowship from the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] to study in the United States.{{sfn|Macfarlane|1979|p=101}} He sailed for New York on the {{RMS|Caronia|1904|6}} on 19 September 1925, intending to study under [[Robert Chambers (biologist)|Robert Chambers]] at [[Cornell University Medical College]], but the [[micromanipulator]] he required for his research on the blood vessels of the brain was not available, so he arranged to work at the laboratory of [[Alfred Newton Richards]] at the [[University of Pennsylvania]]. He finally joined Chambers in March 1926. He hoped to be able to return to the UK via Australia and marry Ethel Reed in Adelaide, but in November 1925 he accepted an offer of a research position at [[London Hospital]]. The position came with five years' tenure and a salary of £850 per annum ({{Inflation|UK|850|1925|fmt=eq|r=-3|cursign=£}}), but they wanted him to start immediately. Florey managed to negotiate a delay, but only until May 1926. He returned to the UK on 13 May. Ethel joined him there in September, and they were married at [[Holy Trinity, Paddington]], on 19 October.{{sfn|Williams|1984|pp=26–33}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article54821764 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=[[South Australian Register|The Register]] |volume=XCI |issue=26,607 |location=South Australia |date=26 November 1926 |access-date=29 January 2023 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025104255/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/54821764 |url-status=live }}</ref>