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Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton was born in 1874 in County Kildare.
Ernest Henry Shackleton, Antarctic explorer.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton was born in 1874 in County Kildare. -
Electron Wave Forms
A diagram showing three wave forms, or orbitals, of an electron around the nucleus of an atom. Each wave form corresponds to a different energy level of an electron. The term 'electron' was coined by physicist George Johnstone Stoney to describe a "fundamental unit of electricity." His concept suggested that the difference between gases, or their 'distinctive spectrum', lay in an electron's movement within the 'luminiferous aether' surrounding an atom.
Image is present on following page(s): Inventions and Inventors
Electron Wave Forms -
A crater on the moon is named in honour of the Cork woman Agnes Mary Clerke
Agnes Mary Clerke was a 19th century astronomer, born in Skibbereen, County Cork.
Wiki Commons
A crater on the moon is named in honour of the Cork woman Agnes Mary Clerke -
Physics: space, time and philosophy
Physics is the science of matter and motion, of space and time. The word comes from the Greek fusis, meaning natural things, and the aim of physics is to understand the natural world. (The earlier word 'physic' meant medicine, as in physician.) Its origins lie thousands of years ago in ancient astronomy, but for most of the intervening centuries physics was allied with chemistry, mathematics and sometimes philosophy, into a discipline called 'natural philosophy', separating into distinct subjects about 1800. (Although, a physics professorship at TCD is still called the 'Erasmus Smith Chair of Natural and Experimental Philosophy'.) Image: The deepest visible-light image of the universe,the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
Courtesy of ESA/NASA/STScI
Image is present on following page(s): Physics
Physics: space, time and philosophy -
Painting of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)
The RCSI was founded in 1784 and stands on the corner of St Stephen's Green in Dublin. This painting, by an unnamed artist, depicts the building sometime in the 19th Century.
Image is present on following page(s): Medicine
Painting of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) -
Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
Born 1627 in Lismore, Co Waterford, is acknowledged as the father of modern chemistry.
Image is present on following page(s): Chemistry
Robert Boyle (1627-1691) -
Chemistry and Electricity
In the 1830s, the modern induction coil and a powerful and cheap new battery were invented by an unusual Catholic priest from Co Louth. Rev Nicholas Callan (1799-1864) was professor of natural philosophy at the Catholic training college, St Patrick's College Maynooth. His work spanned physics and chemistry: as well as his battery and the induction coil, he invented a way of protecting metals from corrosion and made it into the Encyclopaedia Britannica when he built what was then the world's most powerful electromagnet. Images: (right) Callan's induction coil incorporated miles of wiring and could generate an estimated 600,000 volts (left) An original Maynooth battery (© National Science Museum, Maynooth)
© National Science Museum, Maynooth
Image is present on following page(s): Physics, Chemistry in Ireland, Inventions and Inventors
Chemistry and Electricity -
An Early 1980's PC
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Image is present on following page(s): Mathematics
An Early 1980's PC -
George Gabriel Stokes
<P> Stokes (1819 1903) was born in Co Sligo and came from a noted Irish scientific family. He went on to become one of the towering figures of 19th-century science and held the same job at Cambridge University as Isaac Newton before him, and Stephen Hawking today: Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. </P> <P> A measure of Stokes's importance is the many things named after him: Stokes's conjecture, Stokes's phenomenon, Stokes's layer, Stokes's line, Stokes's law of hydrodynamics and his law of fluorescence, the Navier-Stokes equations... there is even a unit named after him: the stokes, the standard unit of kinematic viscosity, is equal to 1cm^2/second. And if you prove the Navier Stokes equations describing how a viscous fluid flows, you can claim a $1 million prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute. </P> <P> <EM>Image: Portrait, widely used and not credited, but may have originated with the Royal Society</EM> </P>
Image is present on following page(s): The science of blood, Physics
George Gabriel Stokes -
Fossil Footprints
Some 385 million years ago, an early amphibian walked along a mud flat while the tide was out. The footprints it made in wet sand later turned to stone. The tracks were discovered in 1992 by a Swiss geologist on Valentia Island off Co Kerry. The creature resembled a salamander and lived partly on land and partly in water. It was about one metre long and waddled like a crocodile.
Image: Courtesy of the Geological Survey of Ireland
Image is present on following page(s): Earth Sciences
Fossil Footprints -
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
Hamilton (1805-65) was arguably the greatest Irish scientist. He made many contributions to physics, especially in mechanics and optics, as well as inventing quaternion algebra. His greatest work is his general theory of dynamics. His Hamiltonian operator (H) was crucial to the development of quantum mechanics, and today it is used by physicists, engineers and even economists. Hamilton spent all his working life as Astronomer Royal at Dunsink Observatory.
Image: Sir William Rowan Hamilton, MRIA, 1805-1865 (© RIA)
Image is present on following page(s): Physics, A New Algebra
Sir William Rowan Hamilton -
The Steam Turbine
This invention changed the world: it revolutionised marine transport and naval warfare and made cheap and plentiful electricity supplies possible. Power stations still use turbine generators based on the principle - were it not for the turbine, we would still be using, gas lighting and gas-powered appliances. The turbine was the brainchild of Sir Charles Parsons (1854-1931), from Birr Castle. It was significantly more efficient than conventional steam engines: instead of using the steam to drive pistons, Parsons used it to turn a rotor directly. The design was ideal returning dynamos, and power stations quickly spotted the potential. Turbine-powered ships, such as the Turbinia (pictured above), revolutionised transport at sea.
Image: Alfred John West (1857-1937)
Image is present on following page(s): Engineering, Inventions and Inventors
The Steam Turbine -
William Dargan (1799-1863)
Carlow-born William Dargan set up his own construction company. His projects included the railway line from Dublin to Kingstown and the Ulster Canal.
Wiki Commons
Image is present on following page(s): William Dargan (1799 - 1863), Dargan, William
William Dargan (1799-1863) -
Boyne Bridge
Located 3km upstream from Drogheda, the Boyne Bridge is the first major cable-stayed bridge in Ireland. It incorporates a tall pylon at the south side with cable stays fanning out from it supporting the main structure, is 350m long and has a span of 170m.
Images & Text: © NDP.ie
Image is present on following page(s): Engineering
Boyne Bridge -
The Age of the Earth
Dublin-born James Ussher counted the generations in the Old Testament, consulted ancient Egyptian and Hebrew texts and calendars and concluded that the world began on October 23rd 4004 BC. Other scholars calculated similar dates, but Ussher's was the one that was widely accepted. In the 19th century, scientists tried other ways of calculating an age: based on the amount of salt that had accumulated in the oceans, for instance, or the time it had taken the Earth to cool from a molten ball to a solid planet. Some techniques were useful, others were flawed. The discovery of radioactivity in the early 20th century provided new ways of dating rocks accurately. We now know our planet is 4.6 billion years old. Irish scientists who made important contributions to this work in the 19th century were geologists Samuel Haughton and John Joly and physicist William Thompson (Lord Kelvin).
Image: James Ussher (1581-1656)
Image is present on following page(s): Physics, Earth Sciences
The Age of the Earth -
It’s best not to create waste in the first place
The waste keeps piling up.
Copyright Environmental Protection Agency
It’s best not to create waste in the first place -
John Macneill (1793-1880)
John Macneill was appointed engineer-in-chief to many projects in Ireland including plans for 800 miles of railway.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Macneill, John Benjamin
John Macneill (1793-1880) -
Charles Parsons (1854-1931)
Charles Parsons was born in 1854 and was the youngest son of the third Earl of Rosse. His work revolutionised sea travel by enabling propeller blades to go at higher speeds.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Parsons, Charles Algernon
Charles Parsons (1854-1931) -
Kathleen Lonsdale FRS (1903-1971)
Kathleen Lonsdale FRS, crystallographer.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Lonsdale, Kathleen
Kathleen Lonsdale FRS (1903-1971) -
Edward Conway (1894-1968)
Edward Conway became Professor of Biochemistry at University College Dublin in 1932.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Conway, Edward Joseph
Edward Conway (1894-1968) -
Bindon Blood Stoney (1828-1909)
Bindon Blood Stoney, civil engineer, was born at Oakley Park, County Offaly on 13 June 1828
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Stoney, Bindon Blood
Bindon Blood Stoney (1828-1909) -
Charles Yelverton O'Connor (1843 - 1902)
Charles Yelverton O'Connor, civil engineer, was born in Castletown, County Meath in January 1843. He emigrated in 1865 to New Zealand and was involved in two major projects, Fremantle Harbour and the Coolgardie Water Supply.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): O'Connor, Charles Yelverton
Charles Yelverton O'Connor (1843 - 1902) -
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)
Guglielmo Marconi's best-known work was in the area of wireless telegraphy.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Marconi, Guglielmo
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) -
Newgrange
Newrange is the best known but not the only astronomical monument in Ireland: a burial mound at Loughcrew, Co Meath, is aligned with the spring and autumn equinoxes; and a tomb at Knockroe, Co Kilkenny, is lit by the setting of the winter solstice sun. The burial mound is on top of a rocky outcrop and the entrance passage climbs uphill for 15 metres into the inner burial chamber. A special opening above the entrance is level with the floor of the inner chamber, and the rising Sun shines through this opening to light the chamber. Scratches on the underside of the stones suggest that various positions were tried before it was perfected. The winter solstice marks the end of the longest night and would be important in farming. But we can only guess at the full significance of this tomb-observatory and who, if anyone, would have been in the chamber to witness the solstice. The tomb was 'discovered' in the late 1600s but was not excavated until the 1960s. On December 21st 1967 at 8.58 am the archaeologists became the first modern people to witness Newgrange's astronomical phenomenon.
Image: Newgrange, Co. Meath (© Richard Gallagher)
Image is present on following page(s): Astronomy
Newgrange -
George Berkeley (1685-1753)
George Berkeley was born in Kilkenny in 1685. He did important work in the areas of mathematics, physics, the psychology of perception and medicine.
Wiki Commons
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George Berkeley (1685-1753) -
George Boole (1815-1864)
George Boole was the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College (now University College) Cork.
Wiki Commons
Image is present on following page(s): Boole, George
George Boole (1815-1864) -
Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922)
Ernest Henry Shackleton, Antarctic explorer.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Shackleton, Ernest
Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) -
Charles Blacker Vignoles FRS (1793-1875)
Charles Blacker Vignoles, civil engineer, was born on 31st May, 1793 at Woodbrook near Enniscorthy in Co.Wexford.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Vignoles, Charles Blacker
Charles Blacker Vignoles FRS (1793-1875) -
George Francis Fitzgerald FRS (1851-1901)
George Francis Fitzgerald was born in Dublin in 1851.
Wiki Commons
Image is present on following page(s): Fitzgerald, George Francis
George Francis Fitzgerald FRS (1851-1901) -
Ernest Walton (1903-1995)
Ernest Walton is the only Irish person to have received a Nobel Prize for science.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Walton, Ernest
Ernest Walton (1903-1995) -
George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911)
George Johnstone Stoney, physicist, is remembered for his conception and calculation of the magnitude of the 'atom or particle of electricity'.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): Stoney, George Johnstone
George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911) -
John Philip Holland and Submarine
John Philip Holland was the inventor of the modern submarine. This photograph shows Holland with one of his inventions.
Courtesy of the National Science & Engineering Plaques Committee
Image is present on following page(s): John Philip Holland (1841-1914)
John Philip Holland and Submarine