Arthur John Birch (1915-1995)

Australian chemist born in Sydney. He worked in Oxford with Robert Robinson, where in 1944 he developed the reduction of aromatic rings with sodium in liquid ammonia, the Birch reduction.

He applied it to steroids: reduction of the methyl ethers of oestrogens opened the way to the 19-norsteroids, the active ingredients of the first oral contraceptives. He was professor in Sydney, Manchester and at the Australian National University in Canberra.

More information: en.wikipedia.org