Search Results ... (127)
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Coffey's Still
Coffey's Still
This highly efficient distilling apparatus, invented by Aeneas Coffey in 1830, was the world's first heat-exchange device. Its principles are still used in the chemical industry.
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The Rotunda Hospital
The Rotunda Hospital
Dr Bartholomew Mosse (1712-59), was a surgeon and midwife born in Maryborough (now Portlaoise). He trained abroad, and returned determined to establish a lying-in and teaching hospital to treat Dublin women, rich and poor. His hospital opened in a small premises on South Great George's Street, which it quickly outgrew, so Mosse began campaigning for a larger premises: running lotteries (for which he was arrested), seeking donations, and holding fund-raising events (his fund benefited from the charity premiere of Handel's Messiah). In 1757 his New Lying-in Hospital, as it was called, opened in fine purpose-built premises, popularly known as the Rotunda, on account of its tower and cupola. Sadly, Mosse died two years later, penniless and exhausted. The new hospital, designed by architect Richard Cassells, had a pleasure garden, theatre and concert hall where the fundraising continued, to enable the hospital to treat poor women for free. The Rotunda had an international reputation for its midwifery training and attracted students from Britain, Europe, Russia and North America.
Image: © Rotunda Hospital
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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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Royal Dublin Society
Royal Dublin Society
This private society, still on the go, undertook initiatives that in other countries were the responsibility of government. It also helped establish numerous institutions such as the National Botanic Gardens, National Library, Natural History Museum, National College of Art and Design, the veterinary college, and even cancer radiation units and a marine research programme.
Image: Royal Dublin Society Buildings at Night (courtesy of the RDS)
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Irish Fossils
Irish Fossils
Mysterious fossils found at Bray Head in 1844 were the oldest in the world at the time. They are Oldhamia: small, trace fossils around 550 million years old. Some resemble fans and others fronds. They are now found around the world, and were probably made by small burrowing animals. The oldest fossil plants in the world were found in the Slieve Bloom mountains in the 1980s. These Cooksonia fossils (pictured above) are about 460 million years old, and date from the time when primitive plants were starting to colonise dry land. Fossils of the extinct giant deer, sometimes called the great Irish elk are frequently found in Ireland, though it is also found across Europe to Siberia. Important examples of early amphibians and fish were found in 1867 in coal deposits at Jarrow in Co Kilkenny.
Image: Courtesy of John Feehan
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The Grubb Twin Equatorial
The Grubb Twin Equatorial
An advertisement for a telescope designed by Sir Howard Grubb in 1887.
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Boyle's Air Pump
Boyle's Air Pump
Basing his pump on that of German scientist Otto von Guericke, Boyle completed his improved 'machina Boyleana' in 1659. His subsequent experiments on the properties of air led to the coining of 'Boyle's Law', describing the relationship between the volume and pressure of a gas. While the name stuck, this discovery was later attributed to another.
Image: Out of Copyright (first published 1660)
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Rev Nicholas Callan (1799-1864)
Rev Nicholas Callan (1799-1864)
An experimental priest and a pioneer of electro-magnetism, Callan was responsible for such devices as the Maynooth battery and the modern induction coil.
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Thomas Andrews (1813-1885)
Thomas Andrews (1813-1885)
Born in Belfast, Andrews was best known for his work with the liquefaction of gases.
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Markree Telescope
Markree Telescope
The telescope mounted at Markree in 1834 by Thomas Grubb, who went on to make telescopes for the world's greatest observatories. Markree Castle is now a hotel.