Thinking caps on please! We’re looking for your favourite maths jokes and riddles. Our next project is Dublin by Numbers, a maths walking trail for families and school groups, packed with games and puzzles and things to do along the way. We want to include short mathematical riddles and puzzles as well — and we’d love to […]
Author Archive | mary
Dublin by Numbers
Our next project is a fun mathematics walking tour of Dublin for families. And we’d love to hear what you think should be in the tour. For instance, we’ll be looking at numbers all over the city, from bus routes to car number plates, and imagining what the world would be like if numbers had […]
10% off special summer offer!
It’s the first day of summer, we’ve a bank holiday coming up, the forecast is for sunshine . . . and to celebrate, we’re offering a special 10% off our tours. Just use the discount code GAW0611 at the checkout, and we’ll take 10% off your bill. But be quick! Summer doesn’t last forever, and this […]
How to get your message across
‘Great training, great people and great results’ Mike Hannigan, Director, Coworkinn Could you use some media training? Do you and your colleagues need help: Preparing for an upcoming talk, presentation, or media interview? Publicising an event or research finding? Getting your point of view across in a public debate? Whatever your need, we can help, […]
Meet the Loneliest Plant in the World
New technology brings the Botanic Gardens to life The world’s loneliest male. Vicious plants that can eat sheep. The philosopher’s stone (where Wittgenstein sat and thought). And the shrub that inspired Thomas Moore’s famous melody, ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ . . . These are just some of over 30 ‘short stories’ featured in three […]
The ingenious Irish latch-hook needle
The latch-hook needle, used by rug-makers the world over to knot yarn in carpets, was patented on this day, 1904. The needle was invented by an ingenious Irish landlord, Robert Flower (1836-1919), the eighth Viscount Ashbrook of Durrow. His patented latch-hook needle had a hinged latchet that kept the yarn hooked so that, with one […]
The Ingenious Irish: JL Synge
Dublin-born John Leighton Synge (1897-1995) was an internationally renowned mathematician and physicist. He taught the Nobel prize-winning economist John Nash, and his books prompted Stephen Hawking to study relativity. Synge is best remembered for his work on the geometry of relativity, and he had an international career, including ballistics research for the US Army. He […]
The ingenious Irish: Denis Burkitt
One of the great Irish medical scientists of the 20th century, Denis Burkitt (1911-93) was the first person to identify a cancer caused by the environment (named Burkitt’s lymphoma). He later proved that diet played a role in bowel cancer. Denis Burkitt was born 100 years ago today on February 28th 1911, and a centenary […]
How the ingenious Irish changed the world
Irish people have changed the world — we helped to put a man on the moon, changed the face of modern warfare, and revolutionised farming. We are better known for our writers, yet we also have a rich tradition of invention, from medical devices to military matters, from big ideas, to small things. Here are […]
The man who ‘invented’ the electron
You could say that the electron, one of nature’s fundamental particles, was invented by the Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911). Stoney, born at Oakley Park, Clareen, was the first science professor at the then new university of Queen’s College Galway (now NUI Galway). A great champion of the metric system, Stoney believed science would […]
