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Celebrating Anniversaries |
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 This spring we are hosting 3 evening lectures to mark three anniversaries that occur this year:
Speakers: Raymond Gillespie, Ian Elliot & Michael Dearce
 Raymond Gillespie NUIM on 400 Years from the Plantation of Ulster
What really happened in the Ulster plantation? Wednesday 11 March, 8pm
Four hundred years ago this year government officials in Dublin and London were plannings a revolution in Ulster. The flight of the earls in 1607 had created an unexpected situation whereby the crown acquired substantial tracts of land in Ulster. What was to be done with that land? In the past many commentators have seen the resulting plantation scheme as a land grab, rather like plantations elsewhere in Ireland and north America, resulting in alienation and, ultimately the 1641 rising. This lecture presents a rather different view suggesting that the plantation scheme was an innovative piece of social planning that created a modern society in Ulster and that the 1641 rising was the product of specific causes located in the late 1630s rather than having deeper roots.
Raymond Gillespie teaches History at NUI Maynooth. He is associate professor in the department of history. Author of
 Dr Ian Elliott on the International Year of Astronomy, 400 Years from Galileo's Telescope, and Ireland's Contribution to Telescope Technology
'Irish Contributions to Telescope Making'
Wednesday 25 March, 8pm
The feat of William Parsons, third Earl of Rosse, in building a giant 6-foot reflecting telescope is well known. The Leviathan of Parsonstown, as it was known, came into operation in 1845 and remained the largest reflector in the world for seventy years. A more significant but less well known part of our scientific heritage was the Dublin firm of Thomas Grubb and his son Howard which claimed to have exported telescopes to every contininent except Antarctica. Grubbs made great advances in the design and manufacture of all sorts of telescopes. After the collapse of the firm in 1925, it was taken over by the third Earl's youngest son, Charles, and continued until 1985 as Sir Howard Grubb, Parsons and Co. at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Ian Elliott was formerly on the research staff of Dunsink Observatory, specialising in solar physics. He has a keen interest in the development of astronomy in Ireland and has written many articles on Irish astronomers and their achievements.
 Dr Michael de Arce on 200 Years from the Birth of Charles Darwin
Introducing Darwin Wednesday 8 April, 8pm
A short biography of the great naturalist and his work on the origin of species, with special reference to his reception by his Irish contemporaries and a reflection on his relevance today.
Michael D'Arcy obtained his PhD in Science in 1977 and has worked in both University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, where he is currently Senior Experimental Officer in the School of Genetics and Microbiology. He has published numerous technical papers on leukaemia and cystic fibrosis and his research interests have now extended to the area of History and Philosophy of Science, with particular reference to Evolution.
The Spring Series are scheduled for March 11 and 25, and April 8. All lectures take place at 8pm on these Wednesday evenings. Entry fee: €5.00For more information contact Dr Tom O'Connor
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