It's a meeting of great minds in Trinity's Common Room - professors to beat the band and at least one earl, one sir and one lady. As the peanuts are passed around, they talk of stroboscopes, turbines and telescopes. They have gathered to celebrate the publication of a book about the remarkable Parsons family and its contribution to science over 150 years.
Up from Birr is Brendan Parsons, the Earl of Rosse, who is delighted that his great granduncle, Sir Charles Parsons, is one of the key figures in the book, From Galaxies to Tur]bines: Science, Technology and the Parsons Family, by Garrett Scaife. "And I'm proud to have a daughter who is an engineer," he says, pointing to Lady Alicia Parsons, who "didn't tell anyone" about her title when she was studying in Limerick eight years ago.
Sir Bernard Crossland, former professor of mechanical engineering in Queen's, has been a friend of the author for 40 years. "I came down from Belfast in the early 1960s when the south was not prosperous and I provided some high pressure equipment to him. We've been friendly ever since." Alf Kelly, another long-standing friend of Scaife, is delighted that the author has put all his research in book form.
Somebody wonders about "the guy in the cape." It's Micheal Mac an Airchinnigh, a lecturer in computer science, who wears a white scarf with great flourish. Cian O'Reilly (12), grandson of the author, watches it all unfold; he knows all about the famous telescope in Birr, now fully restored and open to the public - but, as for his own career path, he's not sure yet.
Frank McNally is on paternity leave