The 11th Robert Boyle Summer School #RBS2023 took place from 22 – 25 June in Waterford City Hall and at the Heritage Centre in the beautiful village of Lismore. Addressing the theme Science Writing | Writing Science, our presenters and guests enjoyed three days of conferencing, culture, conversation and conviviality.
The speakers for the Summer School 2023 were Professor Peter J. Bowler, Nuala Clarke, Brian Trench, Michael Hunter, Professor Jim Malone, Marianne Lee, Andrew Hughes, Dr. Ann-Maria Walsh and Eoin Gill.
Programme
Thursday 22 June
Darina Gallagher and Eoin Gill- Song and Science from Ulysses
Songs of Ulysses performed by the spectacular Darina Gallagher, director of the James Joyce Centre and scientific interpretation by Eoin Gill, SETU and others.
Friday 23 June, Waterford City
11:00 – 13:00
Michael Hunter, Birkbeck College – Robert Boyle as science writer
His lecture captivated attendees with unpacking the Works, Correspondence and Work Diaries of Boyle.
Dr. Ann-Maria Walsh, Queens University Belfast – The correspondence of the Boyle’s sisters
Dr. Ann-Maria Walsh explored the lives of the Boyle Sisters through their letters. In her book, The Daughters of the First Earl of Cork, a rich archival legacy of the Boyle family and the women’s lives is presented, preserving the sisters’ wishes to be remembered as active participants in historic events of the period.
14:30 – 16:30
Nuala Clarke, Artist – An Artist’s Perspective
Nuala is a noteworthy Irish visual artist and currently the only artist drawing influence from the science and discoveries of Boyle through her series: Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours. Derived from Boyles invitation to explore the true nature of light and colour in the world, Experiments … is prompted and inspired by the run-on sentences Boyle uses in his text when devising experiments to prove or disprove the emphatical nature of colour.
Professor Jim Malone, Trinity College Dublin – A Scientist’s Perspective
Professor Jim Malone has dedicated over 25 years to the commemoration and promotion of the life and work of Robert Boyle.
20:00 – 21:00
‘Boyle-in-Points’ at the city hall Waterford
Boyle-in Points proved a lighthearted and entertaining inclusion to the itinerary, pitting SETU post-graduates against personalities in an amusing and interactive panel game show hosted by RTE Radio One Late Date presenter Cathal Murray. Audience participation livened up proceedings with dynamic synergy testing users knowledge of science, Boyle and popular culture.
Saturday 24 June, Lismore Heritage Centre | Lismore
10:30 – 12:30
Professor Peter J. Bowler, Queens University Belfast Emeritus – Popular Science Writing in the 20th Century
Professor Peter Bowler lectured on the development of science writing and the production of popular science literature in the early twentieth century.
Brian Trench, DCU Emeritus – The Uses and Pleasures of Science Writing: Agnes Mary Clerke and Mary Mulvihill
Brian Trench paid homage to late Science Writer Mary Mulvihill and her best-known publication Ingenious Ireland, likening her contribution to the world of science to be as fundamental as that of Agnes Mary Clerke over a century earlier. His presentation highlighted the unique language and tone woven throughout Mulvihill’s work rendering it accessible to all, and as significant to science pedagogy as Clerkes compilations of astronomy and biographies in the late 19th century.
14:30 – 16:00
Waterford Local Radio’s Dymphna Nugent in conversation with Marianne Lee and Andrew Hughes – Science in Fiction
Marianne Lee, author of A Quiet Tide, a fictionalised account of the life of the Irish botanist Ellen Hutchins
Andrew Hughes, author of The Coroners Daughter, the One Dublin One Book choice for 2023
16:30 – 17:30
Eoin Gill, SETU – Sherlock Holmes, the Archetype Scientist and the Lismore Connection
Eoin Gill tracing the Irish connections, ancestry and colorful life experiences of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of world renowned and ever-popular fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
18:30 – 21:00
Garden party at Lismore Castle’s Jacobean Gardens
Friends and guests attended a get-together in the grounds of Lismore Castle, birthplace of Robert Boyle enjoying tinctures of Boyles gin from the local Blackwater Distillery and Apple Juice from Lismore Castle Orchards amid the lush flowering beds and displays in Lismore Gardens as the sun set on the last evening of the Summer School.
Saturday 25 June | Waterford
11.30am visit to the Museum of the Irish Wake, Waterford City Centre (places limited)
Situated in Ireland’s oldest urban domestic building, in what was once a 15th-century Almshouse, the Irish Wake Museum offers visitors a rare opportunity to explore one of the most iconic parts of Irish culture, through the eyes of an expert, on this fully guided tour.
https://www.waterfordtreasures.com/museum/irish-wake-museum/
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This event is organised by CALMAST, South East Technological University’s STEM Engagement Centre in partnership with Lismore Heritage Centre.
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