Learning the easy way with limericks

A retired professor of engineering has assembled a remarkable collection of more than 100 limericks which can be used to remember the most complex of scientific formulas and concepts.

Prof Annraoi de Paor, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at University College Dublin has used limericks for years to help his engineering students to remember important information.

“Over my 42-year career as a full-time academic, I taught courses and did research in various areas, including electricity and magnetism, control theory, renewable energy and biomedical engineering.

"These interests are all reflected in this collection," he writes in his introduction to his book, An Illustrated Collection of Limericks for Engineers and Physicists.

In

fine form
The limerick form is well defined with nine beats to the first, second and fifth lines and five beats to the third and fourth.

The result is a ditty that trips lightly off the tongue, but could also readily be sung.

"Occasionally, in moments of madness, I have presented them so to my long-suffering students, says Prof de Paor in his book.

The book will be launched tomorrow evening by Dr Paddy Prendergast, provost of Trinity College Dublin.

“I have arranged that all the royalties due to me will be donated directly to the St John of God Services, to help their charitable work on behalf of intellectually disabled people,” he said.

There are limericks on a wide range of subjects, including one on the merits of the metric system:

“SI are the units for me!/In Kelvins I measure my T,/Write Pascals on barometers,/And sing “Ten kilometres/From Bangor to Donaghadee.”

Another takes on the task of explaining how to tell the volt from the amp:

"Of electrical worth it's the stamp/To distinguish the volt from the amp:/Should your class nod, 'That's true –/Volts across and amps through,'/It's sure that you're in the right camp."

Poetry in motion
The work has inspired this correspondent to sum up Prof de Paor's contribution thus:

“There was a young teacher of science,/Who wanted from students appliance,/To limericks he turned,/For formulas learned,/To improve student memory reliance.”