School of Physics celebrates 300-year anniversary as inspiring Ernest Walton exhibition opens
Posted on: 18 April 2024
Memorabilia belonging to Walton, one of Ireland’s most influential scientists, is on display in a special exhibition in the Library as the School of Physics celebrates its tercentenary with a series of engaging events, many of which are open to the public.
The exhibition in the Old Library, which includes the Nobel Prize medal Walton won in 1951 for his work in splitting the nucleus of an atom, celebrates the life of Trinity’s most inspirational student and researcher.
Professors Jonathan Coleman and Louise Bradley with Dr Nora Dempsey, Prof. Kevin Smith, Senior Experimental Officer Christopher Smith, and Dr Sophie Murray in the exhibition at the Old Library.
The scientific breakthrough, one of the most impactful in history, sparked the nuclear age – with Walton famously opposed to all forms of nuclear war.
Also featured in the exhibition are other artefacts of Walton’s scientific journey through the decades, including apparatus, scientific papers and photographs, including those of his time with collaborator John Cockroft in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge where the pair made their incredible breakthroughs.
Louise Bradley, Professor in Physics, has led the team of researchers and staff at Trinity who have put together the wider programme of School of Physics events to celebrate the tercentenary. She said:
“We are delighted to be celebrating 300 years of physics at Trinity College Dublin and it is most fitting that the Walton exhibition takes centre stage. Not only was Walton a brilliant scientist, but his legacy is one of a man with a deep passion for inspiring others and igniting a curiosity for science in young minds.
“After his work changed the face of science he returned to Trinity and devoted his life to the progression of future generations of scientists, teaching physics for 40 years in the same lecture halls and labs in which today’s students learn about the world around them.
"In 1993, he and his family donated his Nobel medal and scientific archive to Trinity’s Library, in the hope that it would serve as a source of inspiration forever. We are sure that it does.”
School of Physics alumni who have gathered for the Tercentenary celebrations from Ireland and abroad will have a special viewing of the exhibition in the Long Room.
Christopher Smith, Senior Experimental Officer, with Professors Louise Bradley and Jonathan Coleman, and School of Physics alumni, Prof. Kevin Smith, Dr Sophie Murray and Dr Nora Dempsey by the particle accelerator that Ernest Walton built in Trinity, which is on show in a pop-up exhibition outside the School.
Tercentenary events – highlights
Among the many highlights honouring the scientific achievements of past and current physicists, and underlining the importance of physics to Ireland’s technology landscape and economic prosperity, are:
- An Exhibition on Trinity Physics - Past and Present (view the catalogue here).
- A Communicating Science Workshop with Siobhán Ryan (Met Éireann), Hal Hodson (The Economist), Dr Michael Moloney (American Institute of Physics) and Dr Cormac O'Raifeartaigh (South Eastern Technological University).
- The Homecoming Celebration welcoming over 250 Physics alumni back to Trinity
- The Inaugural Lecture of the 22nd Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Professor Jonathan Coleman, in which he will demonstrate the “power of nano” – in such a way that we can all turn pencils into electronic devices using only things found lying about the house. For more details and to book tickets see the Eventbrite registration page.
The full programme of events can be viewed on the School of Physics website.
Media Contact:
Thomas Deane | Media Relations | deaneth@tcd.ie | +353 1 896 4685