Science Snapshot Six: Darwin's Bulldog

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

Today, it's an image of Thomas Henry Huxley as depicted in a statue in London's Natural History Museum. Huxley became known as "Darwin's Bulldog" because of his firm defence of Darwin's theories.

Huxley's debate with Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford is seen as a turning point in the public acceptance of evolution.

North Mon 200 & Cork Scientists

This evening marks the launch of a publication to mark the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the North Monastery CBS in Cork City.

The book, entitled North Mon 200 is available to purchase in all good bookshops and online at : http://www.localbooks.ie/shop/product_info.php?products_id=6903

The school is the alma mater of a long list of distinguished past-pupils including former Taoiseach Jack Lynch and former Cork Lord Mayors Terence McSwiney and Tomas MacCutain.The 'North Mon' also has an impressive scientific track record and teachers who have worked there include Br. James Burke, the renowned educationalist and science teacher and John Philip Holland who developed one of the first ever submarines.

Burke was a Christian Brother who taught at the North Monastery in Cork City and was renowned for his work in developing practical scientific and technical education in Ireland during the late 19th century. Amongst his achievements includes bringing electric light to Cork in 1877, two years before Thomas Edison invented the electric bulb. He was a pioneer and advocate for practical, scientific education in Ireland and represented Ireland at the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri in 1904.

Writing in The Glamour of Cork, Daniel Lawrence Kelleher (1919) describes an aging Burke as:

"This big, slow-footed, heavy, smiling, half-blind old man [who] has put into practice the most enlightened methods of education.
"Behold him in his class, a combination and anticipation of Montessori, Pearse and a hundred others, a curious wheedling old fellow, the father, uncle and guardian of his pupils, and no master at all in the narrow sense; or another time at the Trades Hall talking to workers back to childhood by his overflowing interest.
"A teacher out of a million, his lesson a preparation for life rather than for any examination test, his shining spirit a light always for any who saw the flame of it, alive".

Holland, a Christian Brother colleague of Burke at the North Monastery, is credited with developing the first submarine to be commissioned by the US Navy (USS Holland), and the first Royal Navy submarine- the Holland 1.

Many thanks to North Monastery Past Pupils Union for the use of images from their collection.



Science Snapshot Five: California and Cork Link Up

Science Week is ongoing in Ireland and continues until the 14th. For more details of events taking place around the country, you can visit here.

Here on Communicate Science, for the duration of Science Week, along with our usual posts, we'll be posting a 'Science Snapshot' every day. If you have a Science Snapshot you'd like to share, you can email here and we'll post the best later in the week.

Today's snapshot comes from the Blackrock Castle Observatory (BCO) in Cork. It features scenes from their recent "First Friday at the Castle Open Night" which took place on Friday last (5th November) and kicked off Blackrock's programme for Science Week.

The image above captures the scene in the packed interactive theatre at BCO. Ben Burness, astronomer at Chabot Space & Science Center (CSSC) in Oakland California can be seen on the screen to the right on a live video link from the dome of one of Chabot's telescopes.

The left hand screen in that image shows transition year students at BCO creating cool astronomy images from data supplied directly from the telescopes in California.

The image below shows the magnificant Chabot Space and Science Center at night. BCO has already featured in one of our Science Snapshots this week and is well worth a visit!

Primary Schools Showing Their Science Skills

The RDS are calling on primary schools across the country to exhibit at Ireland's largest science event.


The 2011 RDS Primary Science Fair will take place from Thursday, January 13 - Saturday, January 15, 2011 at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in the RDS.

The organisers are looking for 120 primary schools to display a class science project at this major exhibition. The Fair is open to 4th, 5th and 6th classes in the Republic and Stage 2 in Northern Ireland.

Last year's Primary Science Fair saw 100 schools exhibiting projects on subjects which ranged from Swine Flu, Eco Classrooms, Soiders, Waterworks, Electric Motors, Lighthouses, Wind Power and Slime!

Speaking to the Communicate Science blog, RDS Foundation Administrator Alexis Steberger said the fair was "a great way for primary schools to exhibit at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition".

All schools who are interested in taking part are invited to submit an expression of interest through the online form at www.rds.ie/primarysciencefair

Get moving though, because the deadline to express an interest is this Friday, November 12th at 5pm.

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Discover Science in Cork

DISCOVERY, Cork's Science Festival will will host Family Days this weekend, as Science Week draws to a close.

Discovery has been hosting activities for schools in Cork's City Hall since Monday, but this weekend, the general public get a chance to have some science-themed fun.

"Discovery educates through enjoyment. Experimenting with slime, creating an electronic circuit or zapping the microbes in your gut – that’s chemistry, physics and biology you’re learning, as well as IT!" says the Discovery spokesperson.

The event is organised by Cork City Learning Forum and the Chair of that organisation, Ted Owens says: "This event aims to encourage young people to be inquisitive and to seek a better understand of how things work - hopefully it will also provide the motivation for more young people to pursue a career in these important fields".

The event will include MEGAMOLECULES - scaled up models of everyday, molecular structures; as well as a Science Magic Show by Declan Kennedy on Sunday.

Other exhibitors include Cork's Lifetime lab, CIT, the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (the guys behind the 'Science Raps' competition), UCC, TYndall, Blackrock Castle Observatory and many more!

The event takes place in Cork's City Hall. For more details see the Discovery Website.

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