Bowie was born educated in Melbourne, and graduated from the University of Melbourne where he obtained an Master of Science for his work on the colouring matters of Australian plants, obtained his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham.
He subsequently took up an Imperial Chemical Industries fellowship at the University of Cambridge under Lord Todd. In 1966 he was appointed to a lectureship at the University of Adelaide, rising to become head of department. In 1968 he was awarded the Rennie Medal for his work on the rearrangement of positively charged organic molecules.
In 1974 he was awarded the H. G. Smith Memorial Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
From 1989 to 1992 he was Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the university.
