Irelands Greatest

cavedave

Have you seen the nominations for Ireland's greatest people here?

Joe Dolan, Colin Farrell, Stephen Gately, Ronan Keating, Daniel O'Donnell and Louis Walsh are on the list but not Walton, Boyle or Hamilton.

'Smart economy come save us we love and respect science so much' is what you hear from politicians. But we don't we wont even pay the 10 million a year it would cost to be a member of CERN.

So we disrespecting science (and scientists) but want the science (and scientists) to hold up the economy?

Gary L

cavedave wrote: »

But we don't even pay the 10 million a year it would cost to be a member of CERN.
So we disrespecting science (and scientists) but want the science (and scientists) to hold up the economy?

Thats a solid point about CERN I think you should thick it out and send it in to your country your call?

Zombrex

cavedave wrote: »

Joe Dolan, Colin Farrell, Stephen Gately, Ronan Keating, Daniel O'Donnell and Louis Walsh are on the list but not Walton, Boyle or Hamilton.

That is hardly surprising, the list was compiled from a public survey.

The only people on the list are modern celebrities and the few names people could remember from history class.

cavedave

It is unsurprising and still disappointing.

It shows up the problem of having a knowledge economy without one famous scientist living or dead (with the possible exception of economics). How can you expect a knowledge economy when there is no respect for scientific knowledge or for scientists, engineers or inventors?

entropic

cavedave wrote: »

It is unsurprising and still disappointing.

It shows up the problem of having a knowledge economy without one famous scientist living or dead (with the possible exception of economics). How can you expect a knowledge economy when there is no respect for scientific knowledge or for scientists, engineers or inventors?

Shrodinger was an Irish citizen after being invited over by DeValera.

I do agree tho, I tried to go to CERN through my college but got nowhere because we were not one of the funding countries, same thing then with the ESA. Its becoming more and more apparent that if I want to do any big physics research when I have my postgrad then its not going to be here.

Scouting

cavedave wrote: »

It is unsurprising and still disappointing.

It shows up the problem of having a knowledge economy without one famous scientist living or dead (with the possible exception of economics). How can you expect a knowledge economy when there is no respect for scientific knowledge or for scientists, engineers or inventors?

We do have famous scientists. All this shows is that the type of person who gets a kick out of answering surveys for TV shows doesn't seem to be aware of them.

El Siglo

It's pretty disgraceful alright that we're not members of CERN and that entire list is absolutely ridiculous.

hardCopy

Daniel O'Donnell?!?!

topper75

I understand Trinity College in Dublin have a 'science gallery'. But how much would a small science museum cost the state. It doesn't have to outdo London's or anything - just something small to:

• inspire kids to think about it as a field of study/career
• pay homage to Irishmen and women who mady key breakthroughs and lift the veil of ignorance around their lives and work

I'm not based in the capital. Does something like this already exist that I am not aware of?

I saw a cool one in Bangalore, India there lately. It didn't look expensive but was engaging.

djpbarry

topper75 wrote: »

I understand Trinity College in Dublin have a 'science gallery'.

They do, but it certainly couldn't be considered a museum. It's more of a small exhibition room/hall.

topper75 wrote: »

But how much would a small science museum cost the state. It doesn't have to outdo London's or anything - just something small to:

• inspire kids to think about it as a field of study/career
• pay homage to Irishmen and women who mady key breakthroughs and lift the veil of ignorance around their lives and work

I'm not based in the capital. Does something like this already exist that I am not aware of?

As far as I recall, there was a plan to site a museum near Heuston some time ago, possibly along with the new development on St. John's Road. I've no idea if anything came of it - it's probably been shelved since the boom turned to bust. I do agree that a science museum should be a priority to inspire kids and get them interested in technical subjects from an early age.

cavedave

The natural history museum has reopened without being fully restored. which implies they wont spend much on a new science museum.

The science gallery is great. There is a make night there next week. Tuesday the 25th of May according to here.

People come along and make stuff. electronics, robots, programs, knitting, blind rubiks cubes, paper balloons, cupcakes all sorts of things.

dirtyden

topper75 wrote: »

I understand Trinity College in Dublin have a 'science gallery'. But how much would a small science museum cost the state. It doesn't have to outdo London's or anything - just something small to:

• inspire kids to think about it as a field of study/career
• pay homage to Irishmen and women who mady key breakthroughs and lift the veil of ignorance around their lives and work

I'm not based in the capital. Does something like this already exist that I am not aware of?

I saw a cool one in Bangalore, India there lately. It didn't look expensive but was engaging.

Certainly something the country could do with. Being a closet nerd I tend to visit the occasional museum when on holiday, and you can see how a good and well managed museum can inspire that interest in kids. There are more than enough prominemt Irish scientists to give many of the potential exhibitions a local flavour.

login1

The only knowlege this economy ever had was to know how an assembly line works, now others can do the same for cheaper we don't have said economy anymore

Capt'n Midnight

login1 wrote: »

The only knowlege this economy ever had was to know how an assembly line works, now others can do the same for cheaper we don't have said economy anymore

way off topic

you could argue about the Island of saints and scholars on up to the IFSC
and the call centres but that for a different forum.

Deffo recommend wandering down to the science gallery sometime, they still have the crochet coral reef there.

Then again we did invent copyright so maybe there is scope for Ireland's worst too ?

cavedave

Well who is Ireland favorite scientist amongst boards.ie members? What are the nominations?

mikhail

cavedave wrote: »

Well who is Ireland favorite scientist amongst boards.ie members? What are the nominations?

Hamilton or Boyle. There are other Irish scientists, but I can't think of any so famous.

cavedave

Walton won a Nobel. Erwin Schrödinger was a citizen. apparently he and De Valera discussed Hamiltonian mathematics. Beaufort?

There are loads of women on the wikipedia list of Irish scientists. Given the constraints of the past it is hard to imagine the difficulties of being a female Irish scientist "When Mary wrote her first book, 'Sketches with the microscope', she believed that no one would print it because of her sex. She published 250 copies of it privately, and several hundred handbills were distributed to advertise it. "

El Siglo

This page is pretty useful as well for Irish Scientists.