EJ Conway - Nenagh’s ‘great Irish scientist’

THOUGH perhaps less well-known than his local contemporary JD Bernal, EJ Conway was without doubt a Nenagh scientist of equal eminence.

The man after whom UCD's multi-million euro Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research is named, Edward Joseph Conway (1894 - 1968) was an internationally renowned biochemist known mostly for his groundbreaking work in the areas of renal function, ionic balance of cell tissues, and the chemical evolution of the ocean.

Among his multitudinous accolades was his 1961 nomination by Pope John XXIII as a Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences - the only Irish scientist to attain the honour.

‘BRILLIANT SON OF NENAGH’

Described in 1963 by Denis Gilmartin, then Chairman of Nenagh Chamber of Commerce, as “a brilliant son of Nenagh”, Conway was born and raised at Queen (Mitchel) St. His parents were William Francis Conway and Mary Anne McCready. Their forebears had lived in the district for centuries. The Conways were of farming stock, while the McCreadys had been successful boot and shoemakers for nearly 200 years.

William Francis Conway had left farming to become a draper in Nenagh, but some years later his wife inherited a small legacy from a relative, who had established the highly successful McCready Shoe Corporation in the United States. Conway's father then retired from business and the family moved to Sandymount in Dublin.

BUDDING SCIENTIST

Receiving his primary education at the old Christian Brothers School at John's Lane, Nenagh, the young Conway was known as a quiet and serious boy. He was always regarded as clever, but at times seemed out of touch with his lessons, simply because he had become so deeply involved with his own thoughts.

His academic prowess was confirmed when Conway obtained sixth place in Ireland for the junior grade of the Intermediate Board, qualifying for a first-class exhibition in experimental science and a similar award in mathematics, as well as a prize for modern literature. He opted for the science award and began life as a student at Blackrock College in Dublin.

Here began a long line of awards and further academic achievements. Conway moved on to the medical school at UCD in 1912 and graduated in medicine in 1921. He used his medical course as a springboard to train for research in the biological sciences.

PIONEERING BIOCHEMIST

He was appointed to the new chair of Biochemistry and Pharmacology at UCD in 1932, upon which he started up a research laboratory that earned world-wide renown. Conway’s early research, an investigation of kidney function and the laws governing excretion by the kidney, stimulated wide international interest. He developed a microburette/diffusion apparatus that was so successful it became widely adopted as a standard method of microanalysis.

But Conway is primarily remembered for establishing the significance of the asymmetric distribution of positively charged atoms (ions) of potassium and sodium across the cell membrane. He and one his students, Boyle, published a classic paper in 1941 explaining how the compositional differences between the fluids inside and outside the cell are established and maintained.

Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley in Cambridge built on this work to explain the mechanism of conduction of the electrical signal along nerve axons, which won them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963.

Conway furthermore carried out pioneering research on the chemical evolution of the oceans. Of the more than 120 papers he published, his writings on the ocean are still regarded as standard works in the area.

The Nenagh native is also credited with acquiring the first election microscope in Ireland. His brilliance is evidenced in the accolades he received, just some of which include Fellow of the Royal Society (1947), Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry (1957), Member of New York Academy of Science (1960) and Boyle Medal of the RDS (1968).

Professor (Emeritus) William Reville, who remembers Conway from his own days as a biochemistry student at UCD, wrote about the Nenagh man in an Irish Times article in 2008. “Usually the term ‘great’ is attributed to a scientist only after he/she is long dead and their contribution has stood the test of considerable time,” he wrote. “Nevertheless, few could disagree that Professor Edward J Conway has now earned the title of ‘great Irish scientist’.”

Professor Reville noted that Conway was a devout Catholic, who would always want to know where the nearest church was - even when attending international conferences - lest he miss Sunday Mass. He also recalled a story that his UCC colleague Professor Jim Heffron once told him about Conway “driving his Mercedes to UCG to act as an external examiner. Next morning, forgetting he had driven over, he returned to Dublin on the train!”

CIVIC RECEPTION

In 1963, his 70th year, Conway returned to Nenagh to be accorded a civic reception. Addressing a capacity audience at the Ormond Hotel, he paid great homage to his hometown.

“I feel that I have come home and that this very agreeable town in North Tipperary, situated as it is close to the Keeper Mountain and Lough Derg on the lordly Shannon, was really a beautiful place in which to be born,” Conway said. “I recall many pleasant and happy youthful memories, especially of the banks of the Nenagh River, and anyone who cast a fly in the river would try Violet Bank, Ballyartella and Minnit Bridge.”

Michael Corrigan, Chairman of Nenagh Urban District Council, remarked that, like him, Conway was born in Mitchel St, his people having originated in Ballycrinode. Mr Corrigan remarked on the professor's maternal ancestry and said the McCready family were townsfolk of Nenagh 160 years previously.

“That fine priest the late Very Rev Fr John McCready, one time PP of Crusheen, Co Clare, was a first cousin of Dr Conway's mother, and today we have the McCready burse for students for the priesthood.

“Present-day relatives are the Hogans of Newtown, Nenagh. One of them, that gentle sagart and boyhood friend of mine, Mr John Hogan, is now vice-president of St Flannan's College, Ennis.”

Dr AD Courtney also addressed the gathering that night, as did Mr Gilmartin of the Chamber, who extolled Conway's contribution to the world.

“It is men like Professor Conway who distinguish Ireland and it is men like him who distinguish Nenagh.”