Number Five, Grenville Place, Cork

The following is a series of photographs showing the condition of George Boole's former home in Cork City. Most were taken today, 30th October 2010. For more information on this story see my earlier post.

George Boole: history worth saving

Workers remove roof tiles from the building on 28th October 2010

On Thursday last, I posted a piece on the condition of George Boole's former home in Cork City, number 5, Grenville Place. Today, workers and engineers have moved in to remove the slates from the building (pictured) and further secure it. As we await the outcome of deliberations on the future of the house, I think its useful to properly outline my feelings with regard to the building.

Firstly, I am not an engineer and cannot say for certain whether the building is salvageable or not. I also have no idea who currently owns the building so can't comment on any situation which may have led to this. What I say I base on information already in the public domain and what I see as an interested observer.

There is no doubt that the building has become increasingly run-down in recent times. That much is evident from a cursory glance to any passerby on the street. While the issues that surround this fall from grace of a once magnificent building are far from clear from this vantage point, what is crystal clear is the importance of this building from an historical, architectural and scientific point of view.

It has been suggested that this building is of lesser importance than his home at Lichfield Cottage in Blackrock, just east of Cork City as it is here that Boole moved when he married Mary Everest (niece of George Everest, the noted surveyor and also a niece of the Prof. of Greek at Queen's College Cork, where Boole was working).

It is in Blackrock that Mary and George had five daughters; Mary Ellen, Margaret, Alicia, Lucy Everest and Ethel Lilian; and it is in Blackrock that Boole died in December 1864 with , apparently, his wife throwing buckets of cold water over him on his sick-bed in a misguided attempt to cure him of pneumonia.

So, his Blackrock home is important in the Boole story but this home is not at risk. Number five, Grenville Place is the building where Boole lodged in his early years in Cork and it is here that he wrote one of his most important works, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, on Which are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities.

Writing in 1851, before publication of Laws of Thought he explained to Willaim Thompson (Lord Kelvin) how important this work was to him:
"I am now about to set seriously to work upon preparing for the press an account of my theory of Logic and Probabilities which in its present state I look upon as the most valuable if not the only valuable contribution that I have made or am likely to make to Science and the thing by which I would desire if at all to be remembered hereafter..."

In the preface of this, his most famous work, Boole signs off not using an address at Queen's College Cork but using his home address at number five, Grenville Place, Cork. With this honorable mention, The house at Grenville Place entered the history of science and the history of not just Ireland but also the world because the foundations that Boole laid at Grenville Place are those upon which the information technology revolution was built.

Boole is remembered as a great scientist and teacher. During the Centenary celebrations in 1954 to mark 100 years since the publication of Laws of Thought, Boole's aptitude as a lecturer were roundly praised: "the Doctor was a great man at the Blackboard", one of his former pupils had noted.

Also speaking at these celebrations was Sir Geoffrey Taylor, Boole's Grandson who noted that many in Cork at the time regarded him as "some sort of saint".

Writing in the Cork University Record in 1956, Prof. T. S. Broderick noted that "Cork has reason to be proud of Boole's association with her College. That College gave him the leisure and financial security which he so badly needed in order to carry out his work. It also gave him a friendly and sympathetic environment so important for one of his sensitive and affectionate nature...May the College always revere the memory of this great and good man".

And indeed the College does revere his memory with the magnificent stained-glass window in the Aula Maxima dedicated to the former Professor of Mathematics and Dean of Science. The University Library and a suite of lecture theatres are also named in his honour.

In recent years, there has been much handringing over the fall in numbers of students who choose to study science and in particular, mathetmatics to a higher level. Indeed, a recent report by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) revelaed that the strongest indicator for progression through third-level is the student's performance in the Leaving Certificate examinations and in particular, their performance in maths.

For computer, engineering and science courses, 60% of entrants who didn't pass higher level maths or have at least an A in ordinary level maths do not make it passed first year.

These are serious statistics and if we want to encourage young people to study science and maths we must first of all make them interesting and appealing as well as making sure those teaching the subjects are at the top of their game. However, we must also indicate to these potential students that what scientists and mathematicians do is of value to society. We must prove that we value and revere those exceptional scientists who have paved the way for the technological and educational advances that we have made in the last centuries and decades.

As we approach the bicentenary of Boole's birth in 2015, to allow the home of one of this country's greatest ever scientists to deteriorate in such a fashion does not indicate the same sort of faith in the 'knowledge economy' that is valued so highly when we talk of rebuilding this country's prospects. However, there is much interest in maintaining and restoring this important historical building. It will, no doubt, be a long process, but hopefully everyone will see that it is worth doing.



Sources and further reading:

George Boole: A Miscellany by Patrick D. Barry (1969), Cork University Press
George Boole Biography by JJ O'Connor and EF Robertson

Biotechs speak up on GM crops

Despite a largely negative response from EU agriculture ministers to proposals to allow individual countries make their own decisions on the cultivation of GM crops, it seems certain that the battle over GM will be won or lost in the hearts and minds of EU citizens.

Organisers of a new campaign to promote the positive aspects of GM say that they want to allow citizens have "an informed choice in the supermarket or when discussing GM at the dinner table".

Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, EuropaBio’s director of agricultural biotechnology stressed that they are pro-choice when it comes to GM. “Europeans should definitely have a choice, but by nationalising the decision-making process, is there really more choice? As it stands now, all the Member States already have a voice in the approval process,” he said.

Read the rest of this post here in the Euroscientist, the official publication of the Euroscience organisation. It publishes articles on a variety of topics based on science and science policy.

Letting Boole's memory collapse doesn't add up

No.5 Grenville Place, Cork (via Kman999, Flickr)

George Boole was the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Cork (now University College Cork) and is generally considered as the 'father' of computer science, although he wouldn't have known that at the time.

He died in Cork in 1864 at the young age of 49, of pneumonia after being drenched; walking from his then home in Ballintemple to the University to give a lecture in wet clothes. I have often used this story in my own lectures by jokingly telling students that it is a lesson for us all: if it's raining, don't go to college and stay in bed! Unfortunately, some students take the joke literally; although that's another story.

From 1849 to 1855, Boole lived in a house in Grenville Place in the city while working at the college (for a more complete biography of Boole, see here). This house has been derelict for at least as long as I can remember and probably much longer.

This morning, emergency services attended to the building with reports of a ceiling having collapsed. It is hardly surprising given the derelict nature of some of the properties in the locality.

(via greeblemonkey, flickr)

The fact that a building associated with one of our most famous and successful scientists is in such a state and faces an uncertain future, is distressing from both a scientific and a historical viewpoint. Across the nation and across the world, buildings of historical importance have been protected to ensure that they survive to the next generation.


The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes number 5, Grenville Place as "Terraced double-pile two-bay four-storey former house over basement, built c. 1770, with full-height projecting bow to west elevation...This house is part of a fine eighteenth-century terrace with the six adjoining houses to the west and south-east, and this terrace forms part of a significant group with the terrace of four houses to the east. These terraces are notable pieces in the urban landscape which were built in the eighteenth century close to the fashionable former mansion house. The building is enhanced by the retention of interesting features and materials, such as the timber sliding sash windows, limestone paving, slate roof and interior fittings. The house is also associated with George Boole, the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Cork, who lived here in the mid nineteenth century."

The building at Grenville Place is a protected building on Cork City Council's list of Protected Structures (Ref PS129) and a plaque describing the connection with Boole is clearly visible on the front of the building. However, putting it on a list and erecting a plaque is not much good if roof and walls are falling down around it.

Meanwhile, at the same time as Cork is neglecting it's Boolean heritage, Boole's birthplace of Lincoln in the UK is preparing for Boolefest. This celebration of all things Boole takes place between the 29th October and 6th of Novemeber 2010 and will include exhibitions, performances and public lectures at the University of Lincoln.

Number 5 during the floods of last November (with thanks to Mon Boys Forum) 

Applaud your ANOVA...it's World Statistics Day

It's time to celebrate your null hypothesis, to thank your t-test and applaud your ANOVA; because the United Nations has dedicated this day to celebrating all that's great about 'official' statistics. Today, 20th October 2010 is the first ever World Statistics Day!

Indeed, Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary-General, has welcomed todays celebrations saying that statistics "permeate modern life" and that they affect all our lives:

"They are the basis for many governmental, business and community decisions. They provide information and insight about the trends and forces that affect our lives. Collected in surveys and censuses - three billion people will participate in population and housing censuses this year alone."

Of course, what the UN had in mind with WSD, I think, was the big statistics. That's the statistics collected on the grand scale by governments in censuses of populations.

My own interest in statistics (and most scientists, I think) stems from the statistics collected in our own individual experiments. So, we want to see whether one set of 30 plants are significantly different in height than another set of 30.

A scientist might want to know whether the concentration of a particular pollutant is higher or lower in two seperate lakes. So, she will take a defined number of samples from each lake and compare.

The important thing about such experimental statistics is that we are not sampling all the water in the lake or all the plants in the world. We are taking a defined number of (often) random samples which we hope will reflect the overall spread of the variable (be it height or pollutant concentration) throughout the entire population.

Nevertheless, it's pleasing to note that the spotlight is being turned on statistics for once. It's not a sexy subject. Having taught statistics to biologists for a number of years, I am familiar with the groans that accompany any mention of the term statistics.

However, a good understanding of statistics and experimental design is essential for all scientists and an understanding of 'good' and 'bad' statistics is useful for everyone to allow us to weed out the large amounts of erroneous "statistics" that pop up in the media from time to time.

No, statistics may not be sexy, but they are very very useful.

Happy World Statistics Day!

Soil microbes make great art

PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology have launched an important new series of articles and resources for open access life sciences education.

"The Education Series combines the philosophy of the open education movement with the unrestricted access to scientific papers and data afforded by open-access publishing to present innovative approaches to teaching critical concepts, developments, and methods in biology" says the editorial in this months edition of the open access journal.

"By enabling students to use the same tools researchers use and to explore real data, such approaches are especially valuable—it's widely acknowledged that engaging students in active research fosters their enthusiasm for and interest in science.

By mining the promise of open education and harnessing the collective imagination and talent of PLoS Biology readers and contributors, the Education Series will create a virtual biology education library."

The first article in the series demonstrates how natural products derived from the soil bacterium Streptomyces can be used as biopigments with the hope that the work can inspire others to explore the potential of biopigments in art, industry and the classroom.

Since the spread of Streptomyces on an agar plate is determined by the boundaries of the plate, the agar can be used as a canvas, where the spores of Streptomyces can be used as paint and applied in brush strokes.

The paintbrush is first sterilised completely before being used to apply spores from another petri dish to the freshly prepared 'canvas'. If multiple strains are used, multiple colours can be achieved.

The image shown here: "Elvis Lives!" was painted on R5 media plates using S.coelicolor.

The authors (or artists?) believe that this endeavour has "the potential to lead us toward a fertile nexus between art and science" and that it is an "outstanding tool to engage students of varying academic interests across multiple age groups".



References:

Charkoudian, L., Fitzgerald, J., Khosla, C., & Champlin, A. (2010). In Living Color: Bacterial Pigments as an Untapped Resource in the Classroom and Beyond PLoS Biology, 8 (10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000510

Kerfeld, C., & Gross, L. (2010). Open Education, Open Minds PLoS Biology, 8 (10) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000508

Rap for Science

Second-level students in Ireland are being invited to rap about science as part of a nationwide competition being run for Science Week (7-14 November).

The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC) at University College Cork are seeking budding rapper/scientists to compose a rap based on this year's Science Week theme: Our Place in Space". An iPad is on offer for the winner.

Entrants must video their performance and upload it to the APC's Youtube Channel by November 3rd 2010. Full details area available here.

Take a look at an example of one of last year's winning raps: