Arthur Birch

John Birch, AC CMG FRS FAA (3 August 1915 – 8 December 1995) was an Australian organic chemist.

Birch developed the Birch reduction of aromatic rings (by treatment with lithium metal and ammonia) which is widely used in synthetic organic chemistry. The Birch Reduction enables the modification of steroids. In 1948 Birch published the first total synthesis of a male sex hormone (19-nortestosterone), as the first member of a new structural series. This series later comprised the first oral contraceptive pill, which was made by others. The Birch reduction also allows for the development of other steroid drugs and antibiotics – he also made the first simple synthesis of the ring A-B structure of cholesterol. Birch published over 440 scientific papers and reports. According to Scopus database on 2025-12-03 Birch's h-index was 43.

Early life and education

Birch won a scholarship to attend the University of Sydney graduating with a BSc in 1937 and a MSc in 1938. He travelled to the University of Oxford to undertake his D.Phil., graduating in 1940.

Career The hormone research he became involved with in 1940 was initiated by the RAF who then believed German fighter pilots were given cortical hormones He remained a research Fellow at Oxford until 1948 working under Sir Robert Robinson, when he became the Smithson Fellow at the University of Cambridge where he remained until 1952. At Cambridge he worked with Lord Todd.

Before his death in 1995, the Research School of Chemistry building at ANU was named the "Birch Building" in his honour.