Harry was won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1996 (with Robert Curl and Richard Smalley) for the discovery of the structure of C60 carbon molecules. The structure is made up of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons which they named which they called Buckminsterfullerenes after Buckminster Fuller the architectural genius who designed geodesic domes. Harry had a great interest in many areas and was gifted artistically and this surely was part of his greatness as a scientist. Harry won many accolades: Fellowships of Royal Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, his Knighthood and many more.
Harry's parents came to Britain in the 1930's escaping Nazi persecution where he was born on October 7 1939. Perhaps as a result of this he was throughout his life courageous and outspoken where he saw injustice.
He was also devoted to science and critical inquiry and saw this as important for all. He spent a lot of his time and energy in promoting science. It was through this activity that he came to speak at the European Young Scientist held at UCD. And as Calmast had a stand doing science displays it was there we met him and Sheila Donegan on a long shot invited him to Waterford.
Unfortunately Harry didnt know how long it was to Waterford and we didnt know that he was prone to travel sickness. The trip from Dublin to Waterford was very strained and we had to pull in at Carlow to let him out to walk. When he got back to the car we had traditional music playing on Radio na Gaeltachta and I went to turn it off. He stopped me saying that he used to be a big fan of Irish music and talked knowledgeably about music while listening to Radio na Gaeltachta on the worst roads of the journey.
Harry gave a massive workshop for primary schools from around the city making Bucky Balls and giving his passionate sell on science. I wonder how many of those pupils are now working in STEM? He then spoke to our WIT science students imploring them to always work for the betterment of civilisation.
Such was he with his time and energy that there must be thousands working in science because of Harry's very positive influence.
Harry was very supportive to us in early days of Calmast and wrote a great testimonial for us as you can see here.
While we met him afterwards at events and kept in sporadic email touch, we always intended having him back to Waterford now that the journey is only 90 mins by motorway. We wish Margaret and their sons our deepest sympathy and appreciation.
Eoin & Sheila
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]]>Full list of awards can be seen here
Some pics can be seen here
]]>This was the 14th year WIT has supported the exhibition which is regarded as one of the greatest science competitions in the world. It is gratifying to see increasing representation from Waterford and Southeast schools. Special thanks should go to staff members who have mentored local students.
Once again WIT is partnered in this initiative by Bausch & Lomb, Teva and Waterford Council under the banner “Waterford Science Region”.
The stand itself was brought to a whole new level by Educational Services and brought great admiration from visitors. The stand featured all areas all areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
See some pics of the stand here
We would like to acknowledge the following people who contributed:
Stand design and build:
Jimmy Phelan
Gary Burns
George Goulding
Stephen O’Donnell
Eoghan Kinane
John Cunneen
Martin Browne
Frank Heraughty
WIT stand mediators:
Students & Post Grads:
Cordula Weiss
Annabel Higgins Hoare
Triona Dooley Cullinan
Caroline Botha
Deepak Sharma
Lenka Jindrochova
Gagan NH
Matiss Drusts
Fergus Gilligan
Lecturers:
Susan Gallagher
Jason Berry
Eleanor Owens
Kieran Murphy
Paul O Leary
Evelyn Landers
Paul Allen
Orla O Donovan
Sheila Donegan
Eoin Gill
John Mc Allister (Festo)
Family/Friends:
Niamh Murphy
Eoin Murphy
Feena O Leary
Caoimhin O Leary
Muireann O Leary
Robin Gill
Kevin Gill
Ciara Burke
Laoise Kirwan
Emma Norris
Ciara Owens
Colm Maher
]]>Over 1000 students attended events including three Doctor Death's shows on Tuesday 10th November at WIT and learned in great detail the history and development of medical treatments for a variety of illnesses and ailments.
Dr Cas Kramer, from University of Leicester's GENIE genetics outreach group spoke to students from across the region in WIT today and explored ideas such as DNA fingerprinting, the human genome and much more.
This evening, in the WIT auditorium at 7pm Prof John Nolan will explore his research with members of the public in an introductory talk to his research investigating the relationship between nutrition and eyesight.
There are plenty more talks, workshops and activities taking place throughout the region over the rest of the week! Click the Science Week 2015 tab above to find out more!
]]>London Science Museum did three Bubble Shows for primary school groups and one evening show for families at WIT
Brendan Jackman and Frank Walsh from WIT's automotive computing group gave a workshop on "Cars and Computers" for a senior cycle secondary school group.
Tuesday will see Simon Watt give shows on Medieval Medicine, Cas Kramer will talk to senior cycle students about genetics. Tuesday evening Prof John Nolan will give a talk about the role of nutrition in the prevention of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Alzheimer's disease. This will be at 7pm in the main auditorium WIT.
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Coordinated by the Lismore Heritage Centre, families from all around west Waterford and east Cork were entertained by the heritage Centre team and with the Lifetime Lab outreach team from Cork.
The London Science Museum's Outreach team performed several sessions of "It Takes Guts" Show.
]]>Calmast put on shows and workshops, brought over the London Science Museum's Outreach Team and Caroline Ainslee's Bubbly Maths, put on a massive STEM in the STREET display and also street performances.
It was great to meet with new audiences especially the many of who would not come to our regular STEM events.
Well done to all Spraoi team for another great festival, to Garter Lane for the SprOg part of the festival and to all our presenters and volunteers.
you can see a video of the STEM in the STREET on Waterford's O'Connell St here
]]>The founder of Ingenious Ireland and author of several books on the important contributions to international science of Irish scientists, Mary also contributed regularly to science programming on RTÉ and articles for The Irish Times. Mary had a wealth of knowledge on local science history and provided fantastic talks and workshops to the Robert Boyle Science Festival. She will be dearly missed.
To read the Irish Times obituary, please click here.
All at Calmast extend our sympathies to her family and friends.
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Once again, Calmast are running the very popular science summer camps for primary and secondary school students.
There are currently NO places available for either the Discover STEM Secondary Camp (15th-19th June) and Get SET for Summer Primary Camp (6th-10th July).
Participants will take part in chemistry experiments, forensic science, computer game programming, robotics, electronics, DNA extractions and much more. The camp takes place in a welcoming, fun environment where our team of instructors will help participants explore the worlds of science
A place on either camp is €100.
Please request an application form through email from bmkennedy@wit.ie. Only applications received from this email address are eligible for placement on the camp. Other inquiries can be directed to 051 302705. This page will be updated when all places are filled.
Placement is on a “first-come-first-served” basis.
This camp is made possible thanks to the help of everybody at the Schools of Science and Computing, Engineering and Health Sciences.
]]>Judges from across industry and within Waterford Institute of Technology were on hand to investigate the projects on offer this year. The high-standard of all entrants was reflected by the level of discussion around many details of every project that took place in the judges room.
Photographs from the day, including winners and general photos of all stands will be uploaded shortly. For the full list of winners, please click here.
Thanks must go to all the judges, industry sponsors (listed in the link), college staff and volunteers on the day.
Photos now available here.
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Judges for the day are Scientists and Engineers from local industries - Teva, Bausch & Lomb, MSD, Genzyme, GSK , EirGen and Arkopharm and by lecturers from the schools of Science, Health Science and Engineering in WIT.
The national initiative, spearheaded by CEO Sheila Porter, aims to encourage a love of science, technology and maths through active, collaborative, inquiry-based learning and to provide a forum for students at local, regional and national level to present and display their scientific. Scifest@WIT is part of the national Scifest initiative in which winners from each Scifest @college compete to win the overall Scifest award and to represent Ireland at the Intel Science Fair, USA. The national SciFest programme is primarily sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland and Intel Ireland. There are a large number of prizes to be won on the day sponsored by local companies.
Scifest@WIT is coordinated by Calmast, the STEM Outreach centre at WIT. “This year, we are delighted that there is a big increase in numbers competing” said Sheila Donegan, Scifest@WIT Coordinator “ last year we had 85 projects, this year we have grown to 120, and the range of topics covered is diverse . “Last year’s winner here in WIT was Kyle Crotty, Gael Colaiste Port Lairge with his project investigating the use of ash as an insulator”
The topics covered in this year’s competition are wide and diverse from a study on the Impact of Irish Dancing on the Lower Extremities to the science of training in young GAA players, to studies on the technologies behind both 4G and 3G mobile internet and to a study on the level of fat in peoples diets.
]]>Information including book-marks and other literature about upcoming events, such as the Robert Boyle Summer School and Maths Week Ireland's 10th anniversary were distributed to over 200 second level science teachers, as well as primary school teachers attending the primary science workshops.
]]>Over 2,200 students and members of the public participated. Thanks is due to the School of Engineering-- lecturers, volunteers, students and admin staff all played a huge role in delivering this succesful week.
A gallery of images is available to view here.
In other news, SciFest@Waterford IT has been confirmed as taking place on April 29th. Entries must be received by March 13th. Full details and guidelines for teachers can be found here.
]]>Waterford Engineering Week, as part of the national Engineers Week will take place from 8th-14th February. Full details will be posted to all schools in the region shortly and listings will be placed on this website also.
April 29th will see SciFest @ College return to Waterford Institute of Technology once again for another packed exhibition of intriguing projects. Full details and rules of entry are available from the SciFest website- www.scifest.ie
Bealtaine Living Earth Festival returns for its eleventh year of sharing the natural sciences with members of the public and schools this May (16th-24th). Full listings will be placed on www.livingearth.ie closer to the time.
The dates for the 4th annual Robert Boyle Summer School have been announced. A weekend of discourse, heritage and much more will take place from 25th-28th June. Speakers and a full programme of activity will be revealed at www.robertboyle.ie over the coming months.
]]>This was the 13th year in attendance for the group, comprised of Waterford Institute of Technology, Bausch and Lomb, Teva and Waterford Council.
A large team of students and staff volunteered their time to work on the stand which offered interactive activities encompassing all of the sciences. STEAMdream, the digital media exhibition developed by Waterford IT's Digital Media and Applied Robotics groups took centre-stage at the exhibition this year and offered the public an insight into the world of mathematical sciences. This exhibition was supported by an increased showing by Maths Week Ireland activities at the exhibition this year.
In total, it is estimated that over 40,000 members of the public passed through the exhibition this year.
A gallery of images from the exhibition is available to view here.
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