Exhibition marks the centenary of the famous Birr telescope.
The Minister for Education Brian Lenihan opened the exhibition at St John's Hall, Birr, County Offaly. The exhibition was organised by the Birr Historical and Arts Society with the assistance of the Midland Regional Tourism Board.
Lawrence Michael Harvey Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, explains the significance of the Great Rosse Telescope. The telescope was built by his grandfather the 3rd Earl of Rosse. The telescope enabled him to see infinitely further into the firmament than any man before him. The telescope has a mirror of 72 inches in diameter.
It was infinitely larger than any telescope that had been constructed before.
Lord Rosse was assisted in constructing the telescope by local tradesmen who were trained entirely by him.
Astronomer and broadcaster Patrick Moore, says that Birr telescope's greatest contribution to astronomical science was an insight into the spiral galaxies. Lord Rosse examined dim misty patches in the sky called nebulae and discovered that some of them are spiral. It is now known that these are outer systems made up of stars.
No telescope in the world could show them except for this one and therefore Lord Rosse was the first to see them.
Patrick Moore says this discovery set the pattern for much of modern astronomical science.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 25 April 1968.
