Robert Boyle Summer School 2013

The 2nd Annual Robert Boyle Summer School will take place in beautiful Lismore, Co. Waterford from the 4th-7th of July and will feature a talk on the future of plant science.

A stimulating programme features speakers from around the world, panel discussions, a tour of Lismore Castle Gardens also a barbecue in the Castle Courtyard and a guided coach tour of West Waterford.

It will attract people with an interest in history, heritage, philosophy and science. According to a spokesperson: "It is not a science conference, but a gathering where people of all backgrounds can meet and consider the place of science in our lives".

The school celebrates the life, work and legacy of Robert Boyle who was born in Lismore Castle. Boyle was a central figure in the development of modern science and ranks alongside Galileo, Descartes and Newton whose work ushered in the modern age.

Prof. Liam Dolan

One of the highlights of the weekend will be a talk by Prof. Liam Dolan (Oxford) on advances in plant science and how we can help feed the world's ever growing population. This should be particularly topical given this week's speech by British Minister Owen Paterson in which he called for a renewed debate about GM crops in Britain.

Speaking to Communicate Science, founder of the Robert Boyle Summer School, Eoin Gill (WIT) said such an event dealing with science had been missing from the Irish calendar:

"For a long time Ireland has had summer schools celebrating many cultural figures / themes. One huge aspect of our culture that has been missing is science! The Robert Boyle Summer School now fills that gap and provides a place for scientist and non-scientists to meet and engage with science. Such an event is important for all of us concerned with public engagement with science and we need widespread support to continue".

More information on the summer school can be found at www.robertboyle.ie

The Waterford Mortar

A recent trip to Waterford led to a visit to the excellent new Medieval Museum and Bishop's Palace museum. Together with Reginald's Tower they form a trio of sites which form Waterford's Museum of Treasures.

The Medieval Museum in particular is a stunning addition to the city's tourism offering and must rank as one of the best and most sensitively designed building in Ireland in recent years.

One object that caught my eye in the Bishop's Palace museum is this  bronze mortar used by a Waterford chemist to make up remedies. The mortar would have had an accompanying wooden pestle. Inscribed Michael Tonnery, Apothecary in Waterford 1707, the object was still in use in the 20th century in White's chemists, O'Connell Street.

The object was purchased by the museum with the assistance of Bausch and Lomb.

The Museum(s) of Treasures are certainly worth a visit if you're in Waterford. In particular, the Medieval Museum houses a set of pre-reformation vestments (the only to survive in Britain or Ireland) which are stunning examples of fifteenth century needlework.

Robert Boyle Website Launched

Last September we brought you news of the Robert Boyle Science Festival, taking place in Lismore, Co. Waterford from 17th-20th of November.

The organisers have now launched a new website (www.robertboyle.ie) to promote and accompany the festival.

The festival is particularly timely given that 2011 marks the 350th anniversary of the publication of Robert Boyle’s famous scientific paper entitled, “The Sceptical Chymist”. This document set the scene for the establishment of the academic topic we now call the Chemical Sciences.  2011 is also the International Year of Chemistry.

More details on the programme of events for the festival can be found in our earlier post and at the festival website.

Boyle's Wishlist

Boyle's wishlist

The Irishman known as the Father of Modern Chemistry left behind him a wishlist, the boxes of which have been well and truly ticked. Is it time to write a new one?


During a visit to the Glucksman Gallery recently to visit the wonderful Book of Lismore, I was reminded of the work of Robert Boyle, a man who shares a common history with the tome.


Boyle was born on 25th January 1627 in Lismore Castle in County Waterford, the son of Richard Boyle, the 1st Earl of Cork. After being tutored locally and in England, his father sent him on a grand tour of Europe at the age of 12, visiting Dieppe, Paris, Lyon and Geneva.

He went on to visit Florence in 1641, the year of Galileo's death in the same city. Boyle became greatly interested in Galileo's work and in science in general.

Boyle was a founder of the Royal Society of London in 1660 after being associated with its precursor, the "Invisible College" for many years and his work looked at using mathematics to explain chemistry. The Royal Society elected Boyle president of the the Society in 1680, a post he declined due to his religious beliefs.

Robert Boyle is best know perhaps for Boyle's Law - that, at a constant temperature, the pressure of a gas varies inversely with its volume. This law explains such events as a balloon popping and your ears popping at high altitude as well as how pneumatic tools and systems work.

Perhaps less well known than his eponymous law, Boyle also outlined a 'wishlist' of 24 of the most pressing problems to scientists to solve, as he founded the Royal Society. All but a few, have now become a reality. Boyle's wishlist in the 1660's read as follows:

"The Prolongation of life" - there is no doubt we are all, on average, living much longer than our ancestors.

"The recovery of youth, or at least some of the marks of it, as new teeth, new hair" - plastic surgery or botox anyone?

"The art of flying" - a regular occurrence for many onboard planes and helicopters.

"The art of continuing long under water" - submarines (invented by an Irishman).

"Potent Druggs to alter or Exalt Imagination, Waking, Memory, and other functions, and appease pain, procure innocent sleep, harmless dreams, etc" - antibiotics, painkillers.

"The cure of diseases at a distance or at least by transplantion"  - Organ transplant now a common procedure. Even virtual surgery carried out by robots led by remote doctors are now possible.

"Pleasing Dreams and physicall Exercises exemplify’d by the Egyptian Electuary and by the Fungus mentioned by the French Author" - hallucenogenic drugs.

"The emulating of fish without engines by custome and education" - scuba diving?

"Strength and agility..exemplified by ...hystericall persons" - Steroids perhaps?

"The Attaining Gigantick Dimensions" - synthetic growth hormones?

"The acceleration of the production of things out of seed" -Advances in plant breeding, including GM technology.

"The making of parabolical and Hyperbolical glasses" - advances in eyeglasses, microscopes and telescopes.

"Making armor light and extremely hard" - Kevlar

"The practicable and certain way of finding longitudes" - GPS technology is now in cars and phones.

"A ship to sail with all winds" - Engines have greatly reduced the reliance on sailing.

"Freedom from Necessity of much Sleeping exemplify’d by the Operations of Tea and what happens in Mad-Men" - stimulant drugs

"Perpetuall light" Lightbulbs, LEDs, etc. all ensure that darkness, at least in urban areas, is very hard to find.

"Varnishes perfumable by rubbing" - possibly one of Boyle's weirdest wished, but you know those scratch and sniff things that fall out of magazines? Boyle would be proud!

"The use of Pendulums at Sea and in Journeys, and the Application of it to watches" - Quartz and digital watches.

"Transmutation of species in mineralls, animals and vegetables" - GM, synthetic biology explain at least the biological components of this wish.

Boyle died in London on 31st December 1691 leaving his wishlist to be fulfilled in the centuries after his death. It begs the question, if we were to write such a list today, what would be on it?


Leave your science wishlist ideas as a comment to this post or tweet, using the hashtag #sciwish

The Ring Whale

Here are some images I took last week (Sunday 21st August) near Ring, Co. Waterford of the remains of a 10 metre long Sperm Whale which live-stranded on the previous Friday.

The animal had tracked close to the South East coast of Ireland for a number of days prior to stranding, leading experts to believe that he was sick.

The whale is now gone - removed and incinerated by Waterford County Council. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) had earlier called for the remains to be used constructively:

"This is a wasted opportunity", according to the group. "The specimen, could have made a fantastic educational resource, not to mention the tourism potential that would flow from such a unique local attraction. The lack of vision from the powers that be is disappointing, especially when one considers that Youghal, in East Cork is only 15 miles away, and is where the original masterpiece "Moby Dick" was filmed with Gregory Peck back in 1955."

I have to say, it was disturbing to see that the carcass had already been poorly treated by the time I reached Ring on Sunday- two days after the stranding. Names and slogans had been carved into the dead animal's blubber and people had obviously attempted (successfully in some cases) to remove teeth from the whale.

According to the IWDG, by the 23rd, "human scavengers had already sawed off the lower jaw bones over-night, so the specimen was no longer intact and the initiative was lost".