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Life Summary

Name	Arthur John Birch
Born	3 August, 1915 Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	8 December, 1995 (aged 80) Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Cultural Heritage	English Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.
Education *	Woollahra Public School (Sydney) (student) Sydney Technical High School (student, 1927-1931) University of Sydney (student, 1933-1938) Oxford University (student, 1936-1940)
Occupation or Descriptor *	academic (1952-1955) New South Wales, Australia organic chemist (1952-1955) New South Wales, Australia academic (1967-1980) Australian Capital Territory, Australia biochemist (1967-1980) Australian Capital Territory, Australia organic chemist (1967-1980) Australian Capital Territory, Australia autobiographer/memoirist (1995-1995) Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Awards	Levey scholarship (University of Sydney) (recipient, 1934) Walter Burfitt scholarship (University of Sydney) (eponym, 1936) John Coutts scholarship (University of Sydney) (recipient, 1937) Matthew Flinders Medal (Australian Academy of Science) (recipient, 1972) Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (recipient, 1979) Companion of the Order of Australia (recipient, 1987) ANZAAS medal (recipient, 1990)
Key Events *	Independent Inquiry into the CSIRO, 1977 (chair)
Legacies *	A. J. Birch Medal (Royal Australian Chemical Institute) (eponym) Arthur Birch lecture (Research School of Chemistry, ANU) (eponym) Birch Building (ANU) (eponym)
Key Organisations *	Australian Academy of Science (fellow, 1954-1995) Royal Society of London (UK) (fellow, 1958-1995) Royal Institute of Chemistry (UK) (fellow, 1960-1995) Royal Australian Chemical Institute (national) (fellow, 1968-1995) USSR Academy of Science (fellow, 1976-1995) Royal Australian Chemical Institute (national) (president, 1977-1978) Australian Marine Sciences and Technologies Advisory Committee (chair, 1978-1981) Royal Society of Chemistry (honorary fellow, 1980-1995) Australian Academy of Science (president, 1982-1986) Royal Society of New South Wales (honorary fellow, 1986-1995) Indian National Science Academy (foreign fellow, 1989-1995) Royal Australian Chemical Institute (national) (honorary fellow, 1994-1995)
Workplaces *	ICI Ltd (research fellow, 1945-1948) Cambridge University (UK) (academic, 1949-1951) University of Sydney (organic chemistry) (academic, 1952-1955) University of Manchester (UK) (academic, 1956-1966) Australian National University (organic chemistry) (academic, 1967-1980)

* Dates are approximate