Doctor and scientist who translated two Irish classics into English

By his masterly translations in this century of Brian Merriman's C úirt an Mheán Oíche and Tomás O'Crohan's An tOileánachDavid Sowby, who has died in Dublin at the age of 87, deserves to take his place alongside Robin Flower and George Thomson, two Englishmen who in the last century rendered signal service to the literature of the Irish language.

It was a surprising culmination to a life spent in Canada and Britain devoted to medicine and science.

Born in Keswick, Cumberland in 1926, Sowby came to Ireland in 1934 when his clergyman father was appointed warden (headmaster) of St Columba's College. Because wartime travel to England was difficult, the young David remained in Ireland for his schooling at Aravon and then at St Columba's, where he was a scholar and captain of cricket.

He had planned to go on to Oxford, where his mother had taken a first in divinity, and to follow his maternal grandfather into the medical profession. But he was unsuccessful in securing a place and so stayed in Dublin to read medicine at Trinity. He was one of the students who on the days following the end of war in Europe defended Trinity against raiding parties who had taken offence at the Union Jack being mounted on the college roof.

In 1949 Sowby’s father went to Canada to head the prestigious Upper Canada College. As a result he himself transferred to the University of Toronto to complete his studies, qualifying in 1951.

He joined the federal department of health and ministered to the indigenous people in Alberta, among whom tuberculosis meningitis was prevalent. He then moved to the radiation protection unit in Ottawa, from which he was seconded in 1962 to become scientific secretary of the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) in London.

Risks of radiation
He published articles on the effects of plutonium and the risks of radiation, and was active on United Nations committees seeking a reliable scientific basis upon which to establish safety standards.

His move to London in 1962 brought his marriage to Joyce Rous to an end. He remarried in 1968. His second wife, Sheila Oberman, was Jewish and he later converted to Judaism himself, although remaining a convinced atheist.

This marriage terminated when, on a visit to Dublin in 1993, he met the widowed Eve White, a woman of exceptional beauty of whom he had been a suitor in his youth. He moved to Dublin, where they lived together until her death in 2008.

He sought out Harry Lush, the inspiring Irish master at St Columba’s who had introduced him to Merriman’s poem, the vivid opening lines of which had remained in his memory down the years. Under Lush’s tuition Sowby achieved sufficient proficiency to produce a translation of the 1,000-line poem, brilliantly illustrated by Chris Vis; it was noteworthy for being more literal than previous translations.

By contrast, the translation of An tOileánach , in collaboration with Gary Bannister, was in more colloquial English than Robin Flower's version produced in the 1930s; it included passages considered too earthy to be included at that time.

Sowby harnessed his expertise on radiation as an active advocate of the exploitation of nuclear energy in Ireland. He became president of Leprechauns, a wandering cricket club dedicated to friendly cricket, of which he had been a founder member in 1948. He gave talks from his experiences on RTÉ's Sunday Miscellany , exhibiting his wry humour, which belied a somewhat austere appearance.

He is survived by his second wife and the adopted son of their marriage, who visited him together during his last illness.