Terence O'Brien (botanist)

O'Brien completed a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Science and a Master of Science from the University of Melbourne in 1962.^[3] He studied at Harvard University, and was the first Australian appointed to the Harvard Society of Fellows as a junior fellow between 1964 and 1967, and completed a PhD.^[1][4]

After returning to Australia was employed as a senior lecturer at Monash University between 1967 and 1970.^[1] In 1970 he was appointed as a Reader in Botany at the same university, and established an electron microscope at the University, and the Plant Cell Biology Laboratory.^[1][2][5] He received a Doctor of Science from Monash University in 1978, for his contributions to understanding the physiological anatomy of plant cells and tissues.^[6] From July 1986 to June 1987, O'Brien was elected president of the Royal Society of Victoria.^[7] He also was a chartered biologist of the Royal Society of Biology, and a member of the Australian Institute of Biology.^[1]

After assisting the university to introduce Australia's first postgraduate degree in tourism studies in 1989, O'Brien resigned from Monash University to found an eco-tourism company himself.^[2][8] He eventually moved back to his alma mater of Harvard University before retiring.^[2]

O'Brien specialised in the study of the development and structure of wheat, and plant morphology more broadly.^[5] Publications he contributed to include:

• TP O'Brien and ME McCully. 1969. Plant structure and development: a pictorial and physiological approach. (New York: Macmillan.)
• SY Zee and TP O'Brien. 1970. "A Special Type of Tracheary Element Associated with "Xylem Discontinuity" in the Floral Axis of Wheat." Australian Journal of Biological Sciences 23(4) 783 - 792.
• JG Swift and TP O'Brien. 1970. "Vascularization of the scutellum of wheat." Australian Journal of Botany 18(1) 45 - 53.
• JG Swift and TP O'Brien. 1971. "Vascular differentiation in the wheat embryo." Australian Journal of Botany 19(1) 63 - 71.
• TP O'Brien, RL Clark, and PF Lumley. 1972. Manual of techniques in plant histology. (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University. Botany Department.)
• TP O'Brien and J Kuo. 1975. "Development of the Suberized Lamella in the Mestome Sheath of Wheat Leaves." Australian Journal of Botany 23(5) 783 - 794.
• S Craig and TP O'Brien. 1975. "The Lodicules of Wheat: Pre- and Post-Anthesis." Australian Journal of Botany 23(3) 451 - 458.
• CH Busby and TP O'Brien. 1979. "Aspects of Vascular Anatomy and Differentiation of Vascular Tissues and Transfer Cells in Vegetative Nodes of Wheat." Australian Journal of Botany 27(6) 703 - 711.
• TP O'Brien and ME McCully. 1981. The study of plant structure: principles and selected methods. (Melbourne: Termarcarphi.)
• TP O'Brien. 1986. Plants, insects and fire in the Big Desert. [videorecording]. (Clayton, Vic.: Educational Technology Section, Monash University.)

Specimens collected by O'Brien during his career at Monash University are now cared for by the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.^[9]