History of NUI Galway, the Science Faculty and associated scientists.

Vincent Barry (1908-1975)

Vincent Barry was originally from Cork but studied Chemistry at University College Dublin (UCD) and graduated in 1928.  The following year he became Assistant to Thomas Dillon, Professor of Chemistry at University College Galway.  Originally working on sugars, he later established an industry based on seaweeds.  Barry became famous for his work on the degradation of laminarin.  A number of papers appeared on the hydrolysis and oxidative degradation of laminarin and this technique became known as "Barry Degradation".  Later Dillon and Barry extended the degradation procedures to starch, cellulose, and the glycan polysaccharide from yeast.  Dr. Barry was appointed to a Fellowship in Organic Chemistry in UCD to carry out investigations into the chemotherapy of tuberculosis.  In 1950 he was appointed as Director of the new laboratories for medical research established by the Medical Research Council of Ireland (MRCI) at Trinity College Dublin.  Barry and his team of researchers had much success in synthesising and testing hundreds of new compounds against mycobacteria.  A number of these were found to be effective against experimental tuberculosis.  Others proved more successful against leprosy but were costly to produce.  Nonetheless, it is now established as one of the three first-line drugs in the treatment of leprosy.  Dr. Barry also initiated research on chemotherapy of cancer.  This work and the research on leprosy are being continued by the MRCI research team, which is now based in the Chemistry Department of Trinity College. 

Sources:

Irish Innovators in Science and Technology.  Published jointly by the Royal Irish Academy and Enterprise Ireland, an updated and enlarged version of the two-volume People and Places in Irish Science & Technology published in 1985 and 1990. Charles Mollan, William Davis and Brendan Finucane (eds), Royal Irish Academy and Enterprise Ireland, Dublin 2002.

Professor R.N. Butler on Chemistry: From Queen’s College to National University, Tadhg Foley (ed), Four Courts Press, Dublin 1999.

Mary Mulvihill, Ingenious Ireland: A county-by-county exploration of Irish mysteries and marvels, Townhouse Publishers, Dublin 2002.

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