John Maxwell Irvine (28 February 1939 – 24 March 2012) was a British

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

and university administrator, who served as

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

of the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

and the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. Maxwell Irvine became Professor of

Theoretical Physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

in 1983 and Dean of Science at Manchester in 1989. Irvine was Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

from 1991 to 1996. He was Vice-Chancellor of

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

from 1996 to 2001. Irvine served as chairman of the nuclear physics committee of the

Science Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the United Kingdom, UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biote ...

and vice-president of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

. He was a director of the

Public Health Laboratory Service In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. During the 1997 general election campaign, while he was Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham University, Irvine introduced

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

before his keynote "education, education, education" speech. However three years later Irvine published an open letter to Prime Minister Blair, criticising the government's policies towards universities. Irvine married Grace Ritchie in 1962 and had a son. His hobby was hill-walking.

References

External links

''The Scotsman'' Obituary 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Maxwell 1939 births 2012 deaths Principals of the University of Aberdeen Vice-chancellors of the University of Birmingham Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester British physicists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People educated at George Heriot's School