Icons of Irish Science 2005

Portrait of Erwin Schroedinger courtesy of the artist Chris Smith

Ernest Walton

William Rowan Hamilton

Charles Parsons

George Boole

Callan's Magnet

George Stokes

Click on a date to listen to the show.

Programme 8: 24th September
Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943 - )

Jocelyn Bell Burnell  detected the first pulsar, a rapidly rotating and strongly magnetised neutron star emitting regular pulses of radio waves. 

Programme 7: 17th September
Erwin Schrodinger (1887 - 1961)

Erwin Schrodinger who was Head of the School of Theoretical Physics in the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies from 1940 - 1956.

Programme 6: 10th September
George Stokes (1819 - 1903)

George Stokes laid the foundation of the modern engineering science of fluid mechanics and was a pioneer in the science of geodesy.

Programme 5: 3rd September
Nicholas Joseph Callan (1799 - 1864)

Nicholas Joseph Callan Irish priest, scientist and inventor.

Programme 4: 27th August
George Boole (1815-64)

George Boole, the first professor of Mathematics at University College, Cork. He invented a revolutionary way of translating abstract ideas into algebraic equations which could be processed by a machine. Boolean logic is now critical in all internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo. In a search on the internet for famous names Boole appears more than almost anybody else. Einstein also used Boole's invariant theory when developing his theory of relativity. Bertrand Russell described Boole's book An Investigation of the Laws of Thought as 'the book where pure mathematics was discovered'. In 1855 Boole married Mary Everest, niece of the man after whom the mountain is named.

Programme 3: 20th August
Repeated 5th July 2007
Charles Parsons (1854 - 1931)

Charles Parsons  invented the steam turbine, which revolutionised marine transport and electricity generation.

Programme 2: 13th August
Ernest Walton (1903 - 1995)

Ernest Walton won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1951 for his part in splitting the atom.

Programme 1: 6th August 2005
William Rowan Hamilton (1805-65).

William Rowan Hamilton is Ireland's most world-renowned scientist. He contributed to the development of optics, dynamics, and algebra -in particular, discovering the algebra of quaternions. His work proved significant for the development of quantum mechanics. Hamiltonian mechanics is used commercially today to determine orbital trajectories of satellites and was used for the recent Mars Mission. His friend, the poet, William Wordsworth, convinced him to devote his energies to science rather than poetry.