A portrait gallery celebrating great Irish scientists has been opened at Forbairt's headquarters in Glasnevin, Dublin. There was an enormous amount of interest in scientific and technical matters in Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries, the chairwoman of Forbairt, Ms Eileen O'Mara Walsh, stresses, and the country's contribution to world science at the time was considerable.
A Carlow man, John Tyndall, first explained why the sky is blue, a Clare man, John Holland, developed the first modern submarine, and an Offaly man, Charles Parsons, invented the steam turbine engine.
Others honoured include Kathleen Lonsdale, the first woman admitted to fellowship of the Royal Society in London; Mary Ward, a specialist in microscopy; Sir William Rowan Hamilton, the famous mathematician; Ireland's only Nobel laureate in physics, Earnest Walton, who with John Cockcroft first split the atom in 1932, and Robert Boyle, recognised as the father of chemistry.
Forbairt has opened a website where internet users can view the portraits. The address is: www.forbairt.ie/fis/gallery.htm