Professor Arthur John Birch was born on 3 August 1915 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Birch held fellowships at the University of Oxford (1938-48) and Cambridge (1948-52), then Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Sydney (1952-55) and Manchester University (1955-67). He joined the Australian National University as founding Dean of the Research School of Chemistry 1967-1970 and 1973-1976; Foundation Professor of Organic Chemistry, ANU 1967-1970. From the late 1980s until his death on 8 December 1995, Professor Birch devoted much energy to researching and recording the history of the Research School of Chemistry.