David Foster (novelist) family name Foster
Early life and education
David Manning Foster was born in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, to George and Hazel (née Manning) Foster, vaudeville and radio performers who separated before his birth. He spent his early years in Katoomba, raised by his mother and maternal grandparents. In 1950, Foster spent six months in Katoomba Hospital recovering from poliomyelitis, a disease that left him with a slight limp. His mother married a bank officer, and Foster attended high schools in Sydney (Fort Street High School), Armidale (Armidale High School), and Orange (Orange High School) as the family moved from city to country towns. At Orange High, Foster began playing drums professionally in a jazz dance band.
In 1961, Foster commenced Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney in Sydney, but he left studies after a year to work and travel. A year later, in 1963, he returned to the university to study chemistry at the University of Sydney School of Chemistry.
Foster worked part-time as a musician and as an engineer at Marrickville Council while he completed his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. He was awarded the University Medal for Inorganic Chemistry in 1967 and moved to Canberra for a PhD in Biological Inorganic Chemistry at the Australian National University, from which he graduated in 1970.
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