Irish science gets its chance to shine from this Monday as the annual British Association Festival of Science gets under way in Dublin.
More than 300 leading Irish and international researchers will take part in 150 events during the festival which runs until next Friday.
The British Association meeting is one of the largest and longest-running public science events in the world and only seldom takes place outside the UK. The last time it was located in Dublin was in 1957.
The entire event is meant to bring scientists and the public together as a way to foster greater public understanding of science.
The British Association for the Advancement of Science was established in 1831 with this objective in mind and ever since it has promoted a better public appreciation of the value and cultural importance of scientific research.
The five days will be filled with lectures, presentations and tomfoolery, all with a genuine scientific edge. The meeting gives the public a chance to hear about the latest findings in science, but it strives not to be po-faced in doing so. For example, there will be presentations on the latest findings in climate change, brain research and cures for diseases, but there are also sessions on the science of tree-climbing, on what it actually means to be Irish and on research into how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness (and why the Guinness bubbles while settling apparently defy gravity and move downward in the glass).
Each year a third-level institution agrees to host the festival and as a result benefits from having its own scientists well represented in the programme of events. The host this year is Trinity College Dublin but as the event is outside of Britain, Irish science generally will be showcased. It gives us a chance to demonstrate the quality, variety and depth of Irish scientific endeavour.
"We all know Dublin is famous for its literature and arts, but the festival will very much highlight both the science of Ireland and Ireland's contribution to the history and future of science," the festival manager at the British Association, Joanne Coleman, said yesterday.
The timing of the opportunity presented by hosting the festival couldn't be better given the great increase in scientific research activity here brought about by key State funding programmes including Science Foundation Ireland, the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions, the Health Research Board and the Irish Council for Science, Engineering and Technology.
The 2000-2006 National Development Plan is putting funding worth €2.54 billion into research and the Office of the Chief Scientist, headed by Dr Barry McSweeney, is finalising details for science funding under the next national plan. The festival allows Irish scientists to demonstrate the benefits that have come from this investment as Ireland seeks to develop a knowledge-based economy.
"Trinity College is leading, through excellence in education and research, Ireland's transition to a knowledge-intensive society and economy," the college's provost, Dr John Hegarty, said yesterday. "We have a long track record of scientific distinction." And so too do the other universities and institutes which will also deliver research presentations. Added to this will be dozens of top researchers from around the world who will engage with the public and encourage both discussion and debate. Holding the event in Dublin in 2005 is also fitting because it allows Ireland to celebrate the work of one of its greatest scientists and mathematicians, William Rowan Hamilton, in this the bicentenary of his birth.
The Government officially designated 2005 as the Hamilton Year of Irish Science, but the scientist has more than this to connect him to the festival.
The Association of Science held its fifth meeting here in Trinity College Dublin in 1835 where William Rowan Hamilton presented his famous theory of conical refraction.
The 2005 festival will look at a number of aspects of Irish society. For example "Sláinte to our health" is a panel discussion that will look at Ireland's drinking culture and whether drinking here has spun out of control.
"Do you feel lucky?" is another session that tries to assess whether there is anything to the notion of the "luck of the Irish" and examines evidence that Skibbereen may be the luckiest town in the country.
The festival will also attract upwards of 2,000 primary and secondary school pupils.
