Struther Arnott was born in
Larkhall, Lanarkshire, and educated at the
Hamilton Academy (1945–52) where in 1952 he received the academy's gold medal for general scholarship and silver medal in chemistry and in mathematics, and from which school he won 5th place overall and 1st science place in the
University of Glasgow Open Bursary Competition, 1952. Following graduation (
BSc (Chemistry and Mathematics), 1956), followed by
PhD (Chemistry), 1960), Struther worked with the Biophysics Unit of
King's College London, before his appointment as
Professor of
Molecular Biology at
Purdue University,
Indiana. At Purdue he served as head (chairman) of the Department of Biological Sciences, vice-president for Research and
dean of the
Graduate School. He returned to the
United Kingdom to serve as principal and vice-chancellor at St Andrews from 1986 until his retirement in December 1999. ==Awards and honours==