Three Nobel Prize winners, including James Watson who co-discovered DNA, the head of Cern and controversial American biologist Craig Ventner will speak at the Dublin City of Science this summer.
The event, which will be the biggest scientific programme ever held in Ireland, was launched at the Convention Centre Dublin which will be the main venue. The biennial event has previously been held in Barcelona, Munich and Turin.
Some 5,000 delegates will attend.
The European Science Open Forum (ESOF) is the highlight of the programme which takes place from July 11th to July 15th. The theme of the event is finding ways to bridge the gap between arts and science. It will be pitched at a general audience.
Dublin beat Vienna, which is the most popular conference city in the world, to host the European event.
The Government’s chief scientific officer, Professor Patrick Cunningham, said Ireland first put forward a bid for the event during the boom and persisted with it despite the downturn.
The event will cost €6 million, of which half will come from public funds and the other half from private industry.
The launch was compèred by comedian Dara O’Briain who recently presented BBC Stargazing live series which attracted an average of four million viewers.
He said there was a “massive audience” for science if it was presented in a proper fashion.
“The idea that we have to make science ludicrously easy is nonsense. People are very happy to have their brains moved and to be flattered by this kind of stuff,” he said.
Among the ambassadors for science for the event will be Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton who is a biology teacher at St Vincent’s CBS, Glasnevin.
The media shy footballer was happy to talk in his role as a science teacher. “You have to make them (students) aware that science is a very important part of Ireland.
“There is so much research and development out there. It is important that they know that not all the science questions can be answered,” he said.
“Science can capture everybody’s imagination. It is not a subject for nerds. It is a phenomenal achievement to attract such a massive forum to Ireland.”
The Nobel Prize winners are Watson, who along with Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, Australian scientist Peter Doherty who won the 1996 prize for medicine for his work on cellular immune defence and Jules Hoffman, who shared last year’s Nobel in medicine and physiology for discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity.
Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director-general of Cern and Craig Ventner, who claims to have produced synthetic life in a laboratory setting, will also be key-note speakers.
The Dublin City of Science events include a science-themed picnic to an orchestral piece from the World Science Festival in New York.
The programme consists of photographic and art exhibitions, theatre pieces, film festivals, tours, trails and treasure hunts, street performances, science buskers, puppet performances, large-scale interactive installations, experiments, science carnivals, public talks and debates.
Dublin won the right to host this event in a competitive bid process back in 2008.
