James Irvine (chemist)

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Sir James Colquhoun Irvine, KBE, FRS, FRSE, a British organic chemist, led the University of St Andrews as Principal and Vice-Chancellor from 1921 until his death in 1952. He helped develop methylation techniques for sugars and isolated the first methylated sugars, trimethyl glucose and tetramethyl glucose.

Born on 9 May 1877 in Glasgow to John Irvine and Mary Paton Colquhoun, Irvine attended Allan Glen's School. He studied at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow, earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at the University of St Andrews, and then completed a PhD at the University of Leipzig under Ostwald and Wislicenus. Returning to St Andrews, he earned a Doctor of Science degree, taught chemistry, became Professor of Chemistry in 1909, and was Dean of Science in 1912. In 1921 he was appointed Principal of the university and also served as acting Principal of University College Dundee.

Irvine’s research focused on applying methylation to carbohydrates, leading to the isolation of the first methylated sugars. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1917 and of the Royal Society of London in 1918, later serving as Vice-President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1922 to 1925. He received several major awards, including the Davy Medal (1925), Willard Gibbs Medal (1926), Elliott Cresson Medal (1929), and Longstaff Prize (1933). He was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1933 and received the Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize (1936–1940). Internationally recognized, he also earned the Willard Gibbs Medal from the American Chemical Society, the Elliott Cresson Medal from the Franklin Institute, and the Longstaff Medal from the Chemical Society of London.

Irvine was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920 and knighted in 1925. He was given the Freedom of St Andrews and received honorary doctorates from many universities. He died at his home in St Andrews on 12 June 1952 and is buried in the eastern cemetery near the main gate. He married Mabel Violet Williams in 1905.