Professor Maxwell Irvine - Telegraph John Maxwell Irvine was born on February 28 1929 and educated at George Heriot's School, Edinburgh, before taking a degree in Mathematical Physics at Edinburgh University. He studied for an MSc at the University of Michigan and took a PhD at Manchester University under the nuclear physicist Brian Flowers (later Lord Flowers). He began lecturing at Manchester in 1964 and (except for two years spent at Cornell) stayed for 27 years, becoming Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1983 and Dean of Science in 1989. He also served for a time as chairman of the nuclear physics committee of the Science Research Council. At Manchester, Irvine trained and gave encouragement to generations of students and junior researchers. Many came from developing countries and later took up academic positions back home, helping him to develop research collaborations around the world, facilitated by his role as chairman of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. In 1991 he became Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Aberdeen University, where he increased student numbers from 7,000 to 10,000 and launched an appeal to mark the institution's quincentenary in 1995 which raised £34 million . Irvine was a great believer in pooling resources, and tried and failed to broker a merger between Aberdeen and its neighbour Robert Gordon University . As Vice-Chancellor at Birmingham he again tried without success to argue the case for a merger - this time with Aston University, a move that would have created one of the largest universities in Britain. Irvine, whose recreations in Who's Who included hill walking and "staying alive," served, variously, as vice-president of the Institute of Physics and as a Director of the Public Health Laboratory Service. In Aberdeen he served on the Scottish Economic Council, the Scottish Council for Development and Industry and the Committee of Scottish University Principals. He married, in 1962, Grace Ritchie, who survives him with their son. Professor Maxwell Irvine, born February 28 1929, died March 24 2012