News
15 MAY 2012
Dermot Desmond Support for Irish Radio Telescope in Birr
Great news for the I-LOFAR team! Dermot Desmond has recently invested in the I-LOFAR project.
His support is an exciting development for the project, which requires approximately €1.2 million to install a LOFAR station in Birr, Co. Offaly and enable Ireland to join the €150 million International LOFAR Network of radio telescopes across northern Europe. The I-LOFAR project is led by Dr. Peter Gallagher of TCD Physics.
Credit: (c) J. McKean and M. Wise, ASTRON
16 MAR 2012
Edward Hutchinson Synge Symposium, 16 MAR 2012
Schrödinger Lecture Theatre, Fitzgerald Building, Trinity College Dublin 19 April 2012
A symposium will be held on Thursday, 19th April 2012 to celebrate the extraordinary vision of E H Synge , familiarly known as Hutchie. He was the nephew of John Millington Synge, who wrote the Playboy of the Western World, and the older brother of John Lighton Synge, the outstanding mathematician and theoretical physicist. Hutchie’s highly original conceptions in physics were fifty years ahead of his time. While his brother did not appreciate Hutchie’s achievements at the time, in old age he wrote of him : “In the course of a varied academic career, I never had a colleague as interesting intellectually as Hutchie, for his mind ranged widely over art, literature, history, philosophy and science”.
We are holding the symposium to belatedly honour this singular man, who studied at Trinity before entering a life of seclusion from which he never re-emerged into Dublin society. His visionary insights into future technology lie in what we now call nanoscience, with the invention of the near-field optical microscope that allows imaging below the diffraction limit, in LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) where he outlines a scheme for studies of the atmosphere, and in astronomy where he invented a new type of telescope.
The symposium will take place in Trinity College Dublin during our annual Trinity Week celebrations. Speakers include Lukas Novotny from Rochester University and Alastair Glasse from Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. Talks will give both historical and technical perspectives. A simultaneous publication of his key papers is planned, together with a short biography.
To register for the event please visit: syngesymposium.eventbrite.ie