biography
| name: |
Birch, A(rthur) J(ohn)
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1915– )
|
| biography:
| Chemist, born in Sydney, New South Wales, SE Australia. He studied at the universities of Sydney and Oxford. At Oxford, in collaboration with Sir Robert Robinson, he was instrumental in the development of the oral contraceptive pill. In 1948 he made the first synthetic male sex hormone, which led to the production of norethisterone, an analogue of progesterone. He was Smithson Fellow of the Royal Society, Cambridge (1949–52), professor of organic chemistry at the University of Sydney (1952–5) and the University of Manchester (1955–67), then joined the Australian National University as dean of the research school of chemistry (1967–70) and foundation professor of organic chemistry (1967–80, emeritus 1982). He has also worked as a consultant to UNESCO and to industry. |
|
|
