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The Fitzgerald Symposium
One of Trinity's great Scientists, George Francis Fitzgerald, died in 1901.
He is associated with the Fitzgerald contraction in relativity and was the
leader of an international network of leading physicists concerned with the
applications of Maxwell's theory. In his later years he was a passionate
advocate of applied science and technical education.
On May 17th 2001 a symposium was held to commemorate the centenary of his
death. The lectures took place in the Schrödinger Theatre in the
Physical Laboratory, henceforth known as the Fitzgerald Building. It was
preceded by the opening (by the Minister for Education and Science, Dr Woods)
of the new Sami Nasr Institute for Advanced Materials. Professor Fitzgerald
attended the opening in the person of Professor Denis Weaire.
At a dinner held in the University Club the same evening, Professor Iggy
McGovern recited a poem entitled 'The Fitz returns' which he wrote in real
time while attending the symposium.
The Fitz Returns | Symposium Programme
The Fitzgerald Building
The Fitz Returns |
What ethered medium calls me here
In this my death's centenary year?
Back to my best-loved Trinity
Familiar yet strange to me
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The second ran my lifetime's race
From Killaloo to Ely Place
A man like me who's rarely cowed:
One has to shout, but not too loud!
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And all around I see my peers
Are holding boxes to their ears
They say these mobile telegraph kits
Broadcast at many megafitz
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The third must take a closer look
He even has me in a book
With Lodge and Hertz and Heaviside
A network of the certified!
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How odd, and not a little sad
To see my building Cristos-clad
It prompts an eerie meditation:
"Beware Blackbody Radiation!"
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A little tension as the last
Revealed my letters from a cast
Of geniuses and simpletons
Thank God I burned the juicy ones!
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Therein to find beneath my name
A modest modicum of fame
And gracing this symposium
Four experts take the podium:
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A final word before I fade
Into the land of spirit-shade
My ether model's in the cup-
Board - sorry - but we're breaking up!
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How I enjoyed the first man's quip
Of long-tailed rodents jumping ship
Their haste I note with satisfaction
led to a sort of space-contraction
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And last that gentleman in black
Who bears my title on his back
You owe him many thanks, I fear
For marking my centenary year
Egad, I liked his trendy gear!
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Symposium Programme
Chair: Professor John Hegarty, Provost-elect
14.45 WELCOME
15.00 Gordon Herries Davies, TCD
TCD in 1890
15.30 Michael Coey, TCD
Fitzgerald's Life and Times
16.00 TEA
16.30 Bruce Hunt, University of Texas
The Maxwellians
17.10 David Attis, Princeton University
The Fitzgerald Correspondence
17.50 CLOSE
Last updated: Oct 06 2006. | back to top
