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The First Successful Submarine
The First Successful Submarine
John Philip Holland (1841-1914, pictured above), was born in Liscannor, Co Clare, and died in the USA at the outbreak of World War I. A few weeks later, a small German submarine sank three British cruisers in under an hour, killing 1,400 men - Holland's invention had changed naval warfare forever.
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Milk Chocolate
Milk Chocolate
Sir Hans Sloane was introduced to chocolate while working in the Caribbean as surgeon to the West Indies fleet in the 1680s. He added milk to make it a more palatable drink, and his tasty concoction was sold by London apothecaries as a remedy and popularised by Cadbury's in the 1800s.
Image: Sir Hans Sloane and a drinking-chocolate wrapper.
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The First Hypodermic Injection
The First Hypodermic Injection
The patient had an agonising pain in her face that had kept her awake. The conventional painkiller then was to drink a solution of morphine, but powerful though it was, it provided no relief. Francis Rynd realised that morphine would be more effective if you could deliver it direct to the site of the pain. He used a surgical instrument called a trocar to puncture a small hole in the woman's face, and allowed some morphine solution to flow in through a tube. The operation was relatively painless, and the woman later slept well for the first time in months. It was effectively the first local anaesthetic, and the technique was soon widely used to treat pain. Image: A commercial version of Francis Rynd's syringe. There is no plunger (the lever is to facilitate the injection), and the solution simply flowed in under gravity.
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Brennan's Gyroscopically-Balanced Monorail
Brennan's Gyroscopically-Balanced Monorail
Louis Brennan's gyroscopically-balanced monorail was completed and succesfully demonstrated in 1909. Like most of his inventions it was designed for military use, however due to concerns over the reliability of the gyroscope the design was never adopted.
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Devil at the Hell-Fire Club
Devil at the Hell-Fire Club
Painting showing the devil at the Hell-Fire Club on Mountpelier Hill in South Dublin.
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First Taoiseach Éamon de Valera
First Taoiseach Éamon de Valera
One of the most significant developments in Irish physics in the 20th century was when then Taoiseach and former mathematics teacher Eamon de Valera (pictured) set up the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 1940.
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Stent Technology
Stent Technology
<P> Stents are tiny synthetic tubes that can be used to prop-open arteries or veins blocked due to surgery or disease, thus allowing for regular blood-flow. </P> <P> Boston Scientific's invention involved coating stents with drug-infused layers of polymer in order to deliver controlled amounts of the substance over time. While there have been a number of legal battles over the true owner of this technology, Boston Scientific continue to produce and sell their product the world-over. </P>
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Sir Robert Ball
Sir Robert Ball
Ball (1840-1913) came from a Dublin scientific family. He worked at Birr Castle as tutor to the Parsons family and as assistant on the great telescope. He spent nearly 20 years as professor at Dunsink Observatory before moving to Cambridge University. He was a gifted photographer, despite being blind in one eye, and took wonderful photographs of lighthouses and lighthouse keepers when he went on inspections with the Commissioners of Irish Lights. He also gave successful lecture tours in the USA.
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The First Practical Endoscope
The First Practical Endoscope
A primitive endoscope had been invented in the USA in 1827, to look inside the bladder, but its poor light source made it ineffective. Francis Cruise (1834-1912) built an improved endoscope with a powerful paraffin lamp and mirrors to reflect the light into the patient's bladder. It was successfully demonstrated in 1865, received considerable international attention, and later commercial versions came with various attachments for peering into nearly every orifice. Image: The box holds a paraffin lamp; the attachment is a cystoscope to view inside a patient's bladder.
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George Boole
George Boole
George Boole is best known as the inventor of boolean algebra, a logic based true/false theorem which, to this day, is a fundamental component in the world of both electronics and software programming. Originally from England, Boole moved to Ireland in 1944 to become professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork (now University College Cork) where he lived until his death in 1864.
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