IRELAND’S SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE
http://www.ucc.ie/academic/undersci/pages/irishscientists.htm
When most people think of Ireland’s cultural heritage they think of things
like ‘The Island of Saints and Scholars’, The Book of Kells, our great
writers, Irish music, and so on. Ireland has little by way of a scientific
heritage – right? Wrong.
We have quite a decent scientific heritage that we should take pride in and
teach to our children. As a people we have a proven aptitude for science and
the current Government support for Irish Science will surely reinvigorate
that capacity to do great things.
In this article I will outline brief details of some major figures in the
history of Irish science.
Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was born at Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford. Boyle,
sometimes called The Father of Chemistry, is a in the history of science. In
1661 he published The Sceptical Chemist. Alchemy, the pseudo-scientific
predecessor of chemistry was questioned by Boyle, who taught that the proper
object of chemistry was to determine the composition of substances. He coined
the term ‘analysis’. In 1662 he formulated Boyle’s Law which states that
the pressure and volume of a gas are inversely related at constant
temperature.
William ‘Guillermo’ Bowles (1720-1780) was born near Cork and spent most of
his life in continental Europe. He studied law in England and natural
history, chemistry and metallurgy in Paris. He wrote the first modern
scientific description of Spain. He helped established Spain’s Natural
History Museum and became its principal scientists. In 1775 he published his
Introduction to the Natural History and Physical Geography of Spain.
Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) was born in Navan, Co. Meath and became the
British Navy’s greatest hydrographer and mapmaker. He is best known as the
author of the table which classifies the velocity and force of winds at sea –
The Beaufort Scale. He also developed a system of classifying the weather’s
various states by letters of the alphabet.
Reverend Nicholas Callan (1799-1864) was born near Ardee, Co. Louth. He was
appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at Maynooth in 1826. Callan
acquired a great interest in electrical phenomena and his most notable
contribution was the invention of the induction coil, the forerunner of the
modern step-up voltage transformer.
William Parsons, Third Earl of Rosse (1800-1867), was born in York, England,
and brought up at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly. In 1845 Parsons built the
then-largest telescope in the world at Birr, a distinction retained for 70
years. A main purpose in building the telescope was to study the status of
the sun and the star system (galaxy) in which it lies. The construction of
the telescope, particularly of the 72 inch mirror, was a wonderful feat of
engineering. The telescope could see further into space than any other
instrument of the time and Parsons discovered that many galaxies are spiral
in shape.
George Boole (1815-1864), born in Lincoln, England, was the first Professor
of Mathematics at Queen’s College, Cork (University College Cork today).
Boole, sometimes called The Father of Computer Science, developed his system
of Boolean Algebra while in Cork. This is used today in the design and
operation of electronic computers and electronic hardware responsible for
modern technology.
William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1864), born in Dublin, became Professor of
Astronomy at TCD and Royal Astronomer of Ireland. At the age of 9 he knew 13
languages. Hamilton introduced the terms scalar and vector into mathematics
and he invented the method of quanternions as a new algebraic approach to 3-D
geometry, which turned out to be the seed of much modern algebra.
John Tyndall (1820-1893) was born in County Carlow, he became one of greatest
scientists of 19th century. Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics) at The
Royal Institution, he did pioneering work on radiant heat, germ theory of
disease, glacier motion, sound, and diffusion of light in the atmosphere. He
was the first to explain how scattering of light in atmosphere causes blue
colour in sky. He explained how the gases in the atmosphere trap heat and
keep the earth warm. He invented the light pipe which later led to
development of fibre optics.
William Thomson (1824-1907) (Lord Kelvin) first Baron Kelvin (1866). Born in
Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics), Glasgow University. World
renowned physicist. Introduced the absolute scale of temperature – the
Kelvin scale. His work on conversion of energy led to Second Law of
Thermodynamics. Closely involved in laying first successful transatlantic
telegraph cable under sea between Ireland and Newfoundland in 1866.
George Francis Fitzgerald (1851-1901) was born in Dublin and became Professor
of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at TCD. He is best remembered for his
proposal that a moving body contracts in the direction of its motion, but
that this contraction cannot be measured because moving rulers shrink in the
same proportion. This was a significant step towards Einstein’s Special
Theory of Relativity.
George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911) was born in Dun Laoire and became
Professor of Natural Philosophy at Queen’s College, Galways (NUI Galway
today). His most notable scientific work was his conception and calculation
of the magnitude of the ‘atom’ of electricity, for which he proposed the
name ‘electron’.
J.D. Bernal (1901-1971) was born in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. Professor Physics,
Birbeck College, University of London. Developed the technique of modern
X-ray crystallography and led a group that used the technique to work out the
3-D structure of proteins, nucleic acids and viruses.
Ernest Walton (1903-1997), born in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, was a pioneer
nuclear physicist and is Ireland’s only science Nobel Laureate. He built the
first successful particle accelerator with John Cockroft at Cambridge with
which they disintegrated lithium (‘split the atom’) in 1931. Walton became
Professor of Natural and Experiemental Philosophy at TCD in 1947. He shared
the 1951 Nobel Prize for physics with Cockroft.
Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) was born in Newbridge, Co. Kildare and became
Professor of Chemistry at University College, London. She did much important
work in X-ray crystallography, including a demonstration that the benzene
ring is flat. She was the first woman elected to Fellowship of the Royal
Society in 1945. She was a dedicated pacifist and suffered a short term in
jail in 1943 for her convictions.
Denis Burkitt (1911-1993) was born in Eniskillen, graduated as a physician,
and became world renowned pioneer in public medicine. Worked in public
service for many years in Uganda. First described a cancer called Burkitt’s
Lymphoma and showed that it is spread by mosquitoes who transmit the disease
by spreading the Epstein-barr virus. Returned to London 1966 and led campaign
advocating the importance of fibre in the diet.
John Bell (1928-1990) was born in Belfast. He joined CERN (the European
Research Organisation) in Geneva in 1960. Here he developed a set of
equations called Bell’s Inequalities that are of fundamental importance in
quantum physics. Bell was a leading theoretical physicist of his generation.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943-) was born in Lurgan, Co. Armagh and is now
Professor of Physics at The Open University. She discovered pulsars –
rapidly rotating neutron stars – in 1967 when working as a research student
at Cambridge. She continues to study pulsars today.
From the foundation of the modern Irish State until very recently, science
has not received the respect it deserves in Ireland. We chose instead to fire
our imaginations almost exclusively with other things. But, Irish science is
back and, given our past achievements, there is every reason to hope for
great things to come.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 163.25.118.134
EngTalk 近期熱門文章
PTT職涯區 即時熱門文章
