Irish chemist known for his contributions in several areas of science.

Kirwan, who was born a Roman Catholic, attended the University of Poitiers in France from about 1750 to 1754. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Saint-Omer, France, that same year; but, when his elder brother (and the heir to the family estates) was killed in a duel in 1755, Kirwan left Saint-Omer and returned to Ireland.

From 1777 to 1787 Kirwan lived in London. While there, he was elected to the Royal Society (1780) and wrote a series of papers on chemical affinity, in addition to the volume Elements of Mineralogy (1784) and his best-known book, Essay on Phlogiston (1787).

Having moved to Dublin in 1787, Kirwan helped to found the Royal Irish Society, in 1799 becoming its president. In addition to his papers and books on chemistry, Kirwan wrote Geological Essays (1799), a controversial response to the pioneering work of geologist James Hutton; a work on comparative climatology; a two-volume work on logic; and a volume of essays on metaphysics.