sciencem.eu2013.ie/media/eupresidency/content/documents/little-book-of-irish-science.pdfgreat...
TRANSCRIPT
Little
Book of
Irish Science
Science Foundation Ireland
IRISH SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS
CONTENTS
01 Introduction 03 Dublin City of Science 05 An Eye to Improving Vision 07 Yes We Can Connect
09 Efficient Drug Manufacturing 11 Early Astronomy Expertise 13 The Father of Modern Chemistry
15 Early Cancer Treatment 17 Lose the Junction 19 Layers for Better Plastics and Computers 21
A New Weapon 23 A Window on Brain Seizures in Babies 25 Discovering the Pulsar 27 And the
Oscar Goes to... 29 Mutebutton 31 Bat Clues 33 A Virtual Sawmill 35 Target: Immune Disease 37
Software to Make Sense of DNA 39 Irishman Splits Atom 41 The Perfect Foam 43 19th Century
Maths and Gaming 45 Computer Logic 47 Viagra 49 9 Out of the Top 10 51 Testing for the
Speed Gene in Horses 53 Ranked Highly 55 An Important Influence 57 The Beaufort Scale 59
The Big Telescope in Birr 61 Why is the Sky Blue? 63 Earthquake Pioneer 65 Acknowledgments
Ireland. You may have read works by some of our writers. Perhaps you’ve seen some of our dancers perform. Maybe you’ve grown up listening to some of our bands. But do you know our scientists? From ancient astronomy to modern genetics, Irish scientists and engineers have been leaving their mark on the world. This little book gives you a glimpse of some of these achievements.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
SFI - RESEARCH FOR IRELAND’S FUTURE
WWW.SFI.IE
DUBLIN CITY OF SCIENCE
Europe’s largest multidisciplinary science conference
(ESOF 2012) comes to Dublin this July. Ireland is
marking this prestigious occasion with a year-long,
nationwide programme of science-related events.
Throughout 2012, over 160 events are taking place
nationwide to celebrate the best of Irish science
through culture and the arts. Ireland boasts a
rich cultural and artistic heritage and it is the
aim of this festival programme to be a true
representation of both our scientific and artistic
culture. The programme will demonstrate the
reach of science into almost every aspect of
life-education, culture, business, arts, sports
and communities as well as how science touches
and shapes our past, our present and our future.
In July Dublin will come alive with our ten day
Science Festival; ‘Science in the City’ an integral
programme element of ESOF 2012. Find out more
at www.dublinscience2012.ie
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
AN EYE TO IMPROVING VISION
Cataracts are one of the leading causes of vision
impairment around the world and surgery to cor-
rect them can involve inserting a replacement
lens inside the eye. The Applied Optics Group
at NUI Galway is developing instruments to test
out new designs of these lenses by simulating
how they would work in the eye. Their approach
reduces the need for expensive and invasive
testing of the lenses in patients. Ultimately,
better lenses could mean fewer people will
need to use glasses for far-vision.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
YES WE CAN CONNECT
For the economic stimulus package website Recovery.gov, which shows the American
public how funds are being spent, US President Barack Obama’s administration chose
to use internet technology developed at the SFI-funded Digital Enterprise Research
Institute (DERI) in NUI Galway. The web standard is called Semantically-Interlinked
Online Communities, or SIOC. It was created by Dr. John Breslin and it aims to connect
online community sites and Internet-based discussions.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
EFFICIENT DRUG MANUFACTURING
COULD OFFER BIG SAVINGS
The SFI-funded Solid State Pharmaceuticals
Cluster led by the University of Limerick (UL)
is working on a potential game-changer for the
pharmaceutical industry that could see drugs
manufactured by more efficient processes. To
do this, the Cluster is focusing on overcoming
the problems of continuous crystallisation. The
approach could potentially save pharmaceutical
companies billions of Euro in manufacturing costs.
With eight of the top ten global pharmaceutical
firms located in Ireland, all of which are partnered
with the group in UL, the potential competitive
advantage offered by this technology is substantial.
processO
processO
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
EARLY ASTRONOMY EXPERTISE SET IN STONE
As far back as 5,000 years ago, astronomers and
engineers in Ireland knew their stuff. The Boyne
Valley, Newgrange in County Meath is home to
megalithic monuments that show a deep un-
derstanding of the heavens. Probably the most
famous example is the roof-box at the burial
mound in Newgrange, which is older than the
Great Pyramid of Giza. A small opening just above
the entrance to the 5,000-year old burial cham-
ber is positioned so that as the sun rises on the
shortest day of the year, light floods through the
narrow corridor and illuminates the chamber.
THE FATHER OF MODERN CHEMISTRY
Robert Boyle (1627-1691), born in Lismore,
County Waterford on Ireland’s south-east coast,
is considered a founder of modern chemistry. His
1661 book The Sceptical Chymist outlined the
theory that matter was made of atoms, and he
made the argument for chemical experiments.
This was an important step in the transition from
alchemy, the art of changing one substance into
another, to chemistry as we know it today. Boyle
was one of the foremost thinkers and experi-
mentalists in 17th-century Britain, and Boyle’s
Law, which describes the relationship between
the pressure and volume of a gas in a closed
system, is still taught to science students today.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
Radiation therapy is a widely-used treatment for cancer today. But as far back as the early
20th century, there was a version called the “Dublin method”. Offaly-born scientist John
Joly (1857-1933) and Dr. Walter Stevenson (1876-1931) developed the approach, which
captured radon gas in thin glass tubes and then inserted them directly into tumours.
E A R LY C A N C E R T R E AT M E N T010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
LOSE THE JUNCTION FOR
SMALLER ELECTRONICS
A team of researchers at Tyndall National Institute
in Cork has successfully made a junctionless
transistor, which could enable smaller electronic
devices that consume less energy. Transistors
are an integral part of electronics - by controlling
the flow of electrons they allow devices to carry
out functions. Conventional transistors control
the flow of electrons between two junctions, as if
they were jumping from one cliff edge to another
across a canyon, the jump being enabled by the
electrical control of an electrode called the gate
that opens or closes a bridge across the canyon.
But as electronic devices get smaller, transistors
need to reduce the size of the junction, effectively
pushing the cliff faces together - when the cliff
faces get too close to each other, the gate can no
longer stop the electrons from jumping over the
canyon in an anarchic manner. The research team has instead engineered a junctionless transistor where electron flow is controlled by a silicon gate circling a silicon nanowire. The gate can be ‘tightened’ to restrict the flow of electrons, similar to a ring around a hosepipe restricting the flow of water. No cliff faces means the junctionless transistors could support smaller and more energy-efficient electronic devices.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
LAYERS FOR BETTER PLASTICS
AND COMPUTERS
Smaller, faster computers, more efficient batteries and greener plastics could be on the way if we can use tiny flakes or nanolayers of certain materials. Prof Jonathan Coleman and his team at the SFI-funded Centre for Re-search on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN), based at Trinity College Dublin, have developed a method to split these materials into billions of such layers. One example is graphene, atom-thick sheets of carbon with immense strength and the ability to conduct electricity. Prof Coleman figured out how to use a soapy solution to turn cheap lumps of graphite into billions of precious graphene layers. These flakes could be added to plastics to make them stronger while keeping them light. However, they have many other applications in areas such as electronics and sensing. Prof Coleman is now applying the method to other materials that could have a role in storing or generating energy. His publication record earned him a place in the top 100 materials sci-entists of the decade worldwide between January 2000 and October 2010, as compiled by Thomson Reuters. His position of 61, with 30 papers and 1,507 citations in materials science journals, put him within the top 0.02 per cent in the field. Overall, Prof Coleman has published 150 papers in international journals such as Science and Nature and has been cited almost 8,000 times.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
superbugs
A NEW WEAPON IN THE FIGHT AGAINST SUPERBUGS
Researchers at the SFI-funded Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre in University College
Cork and Teagasc Moorepark have found a new antimicrobial agent, Thuricin CD, that
can kill the antibiotic-resistant bacterium Clostridium difficile, which poses a major
problem in clinical and healthcare settings.The new antibiotic may also reduce the risk
of disease recurrence, compared with that of broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment,
because it spares the normal gut bacteria that help to limit C. difficile growth. Thuricin
CD was discovered by screening over 30,000 bacteria isolated from the human gut
and the technology was licensed to Irish biotechnology company Alimentary Health.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
A WINDOW ON BRAIN
SEIZURES IN BABIES
Seizures or ‘fits’ are the most common neuro-logical emergency encountered in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) – they are caused by problems such as lack of oxygen around the time of birth, haemorrhage and meningitis.
But here’s the problem: seizures can be very difficult to detect in newborns, and there may be no obvious outward signs that the baby is experiencing one, making intervention or treat-ment difficult.
The only accurate tool for diagnosis is EEG monitoring, a measure of electrical brain activ-ity, but newborn EEG interpretation is a highly specialised skill and few experts are available.
Prof Geraldine Boylan, who directs the Neonatal Brain Research Group at University College Cork, has been carrying out research with collabora-tors into automating EEG interpretation so that seizures can be detected reliably in the NICU.
Cork is part of an EU-wide project, NEMO (www.nemo-europe.com), to further test the technology so that seizures can be detected rapidly and the information can be shared with specialists remotely so timely decisions can be made for treatment.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
DISCOVERING THE PULSAR
In the 1960s, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who was born in Belfast and raised in Lurgan,
was doing her PhD at Cambridge and helped to build an enormous radio telescope
that scanned the skies. She analysed the results on reams of paper charts and
noticed some unusual markings or ‘scruff‘ on the record. This scruff turned out to be
a signal from a pulsar, a previously undiscovered type of small, dense and rapidly-
rotating star remnant. Since then, many more pulsars have been found, and
studying them has helped scientists to learn more about how some stars die.
2308 2308 2208 2180 2278 2238 2218 1539
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO...
Prof Anil Kokaram, a researcher at Trinity College
Dublin, won an Oscar for the development of visual
effects software for the film industry. He worked
as a consultant with UK-based The Foundry, which
develops image-processing software for the post-
production industry and was awarded the Oscar
in 2007. The visual effects and image-processing
software developed by Prof Kokaram and the team
have been used on a host of high-profile feature
films including Casino Royale, X-Men, The Last
Stand, The Da Vinci Code and Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Prof Kokaram works with
the Signal Processing and Media Application
Group (Sigmedia) at Trinity, which develops
techniques to restore film, create effects in
post-production and adapt digital film to allow
better streaming over the Internet. He is now
working on video quality with the Chrome Media
Group at Google HQ in Mountain View California
and maintains his research activities at Trinity.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
MUTEBUTTON - TARGETING TINNITUS THROUGH EAR AND TONGUE
Researchers at NUI Maynooth have developed a
technology that aims to alleviate the symptoms of
tinnitus, a condition where the person ‘hears’ nois-
es such as ringing or hissing even though there
is no external source of the sound. The device,
called MuteButton, simultaneously stimulates the
sense of hearing and touch by playing sounds to
the ear and stimulating touch using sensors on the
tongue. The approach targets centres in the spinal
cord and brain that integrate sound and touch,
with the aim of suppressing the perceived but
imaginary sounds of tinnitus. www.mutebutton.ie
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
BAT CLUES ON HEALTH AND HISTORY
Dr. Emma Teeling is looking at the genetics of bats. Why? Because therein could lie clues about how genes play important roles in health. At University College Dublin her work compares genomes of bats and various other animal species to tease out how nature has addressed particular problems. The findings could help us better understand conditions such as inherited deafness, as well as more general topics such as ageing and the immune response. Dr. Teeling’s work also feeds into a wider international project that is using “phylogenetics” to examine evolution, and the analysis is uncovering new information about how mammals diversified when dinosaurs became extinct.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
A VIRTUAL SAWMILL
SEEING THE WOOD IN THE TREES
Imagine you could plan to fell a forest without
leaving your chair? Technology developed by
Irish company Treemetrics and the SFI-funded
centre 4C at University College Cork lets users
non-invasively measure and virtually optimise
the management of forest resources. The laser
technology physically measures trees in a for-
est then converts and represents the data into
in a way that allows better use of forest resources
and less wastage. The company, which now offers
measurement and ‘virtual sawmill’ technology to
analyse forest resources quickly and accurately,
is working with partners and clients around the
world. www.treemetrics.com
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
TARGET: IMMUNE DISEASE
TARGET: IMMUNE DISEASE
You need your immune system to help you fight off
bugs and viruses that cause disease. But if your
immune responses go awry, it can result in chronic
auto-immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Or, if you receive a transplanted organ, your vigi-
lant immune system could cause you to reject it.
Based originally on SFI-funded research carried out
at Trinity College Dublin, Opsona has been developing
and testing therapies to selectively target important
molecules in the immune system called toll-like
receptors. By blocking these receptors, inappro-
priate immune responses could be kept under
control. The biotech company has partnered with
major pharmaceutical companies and has already
started clinical trials in humans of its candidate
molecules..www.opsona.com
Dublin-based Opsona Therapeutics is developing new molecules
to control key steps in the immune response, and so help address
immune diseases and post-transplant rejection.
Little
Book of Irish Science
SOFTWARE TO MAKE SENSE OF DNA
Irish scientist Prof Des Higgins wrote one of the most-widely used pieces
of computer software in bioinformatics. In the 1980s, he developed
CLUSTAL, a programme to align DNA and protein sequences, and this be-
came a standard tool in the field around the world, allowing researchers
to draw meaningful information out of genomic data. Academic papers
explaining the software tool were widely referenced by other researchers.
As a result, Prof Higgins has held rankings among the most cited authors
in computer science, although interestingly, he is a biologist. Today Prof
Higgins continues to work in bioinformatics at University College Dublin,
developing and using software to analyse biological data and help
find new molecules of interest for diagnosing and treating cancer.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
Ernest Walton (1903-1995) was one half of a team that artificially split
the atom in 1932. Working in Cambridge with colleague John Cockroft,
Waterford-born Walton built a machine that could bombard the nuclei
of lithium atoms with streams of accelerated protons. The lithium nuclei
split in the milestone experiment that earned the duo a Nobel Prize.
IRISHMAN SPLITS ATOM
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
THE PERFECT FOAM
In 1880 Belfast-born scientist Lord Kelvin (1824-
1907) pondered some pretty deep problems. One
such problem was what the lowest energy struc-
ture of a liquid foam of equal size bubbles might
be. In the 1990s, scientists Denis Weaire and
Robert Phelan at Trinity College Dublin came up
with a structure that improved upon Kelvin’s solu-
tion. This complex Weaire-Phelan structure was the
inspiration for the Water Cube aquatic centre at the
Beijing Olympics. In 2011, Italian scientist Ruggero
Gabbrielli, working with a team at Trinity, announced
he had designed a container that could accommo-
date the Weaire-Phelan bubbles, and this allowed
the creation of the perfect foam in the laboratory.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
19TH CENTURY MATHS AND... GAMING
It’s possibly the most famous act of graffiti in science: on October 16th 1843 as Irish mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865) walked to work along the Royal Canal in Dublin, he had a flash of inspiration about a new type of four-dimensional number. So he took out a penknife and in-scribed his thoughts into a wall at Broom Bridge in Cabra. What he had come up with was ‘quaternions’, and his insight is seen as the birth of modern algebra. Hamilton’s discovery played a role in later breakthroughs, including Maxwell’s prediction of eletromagnetic waves, which led to the detection of radio waves and ultimately the radio, television, radar, etc. Even today, we are still seeing the influence of Hamilton’s inspiration: quaternions are at the heart of technology developed by Irish software company Havok, which helps to make motion in movies and computer games look more realistic. In 2008, Havok was awarded a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for pioneering new levels of realism and interactivity in movies and games.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
EMC2The 19th-century mathematician George Boole (1815-1864)
devised a form of logic that was later used to develop electron-
ics systems that used binary instructions. Boole was English,
but he spent much of his career in Cork. His symbolic logic uses
operators such as AND or NOT or OR. Today, Boolean logic forms
the basis for everything from smartphones to the Internet.
COMPUTER LOGIC - THE CORK CONNECTION
0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY0 1 2 6 0 32 DECIMAL 000000 00001 00010 00110 00000 100000 BINARY
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
Eight out of the top-ten global pharma companies have a presence in Ireland. Many well-
known medications are manufactured here - the active ingredient for Viagra is produced
in Cork by Pfizer and Allergan produces Botox at its plant in Westport, County Mayo.
Viagra
Vg
VIAGRA IS MADE IN CORK BY PFIZER
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
09:10
Nine out of the top-ten medical device companies have a presence in Ireland and
we are one of the largest exporters of medtech products in Europe.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
TESTING FOR THE SPEED GENE IN HORSES
While analysing genes in thoroughbred racehorses, Dr Emmeline Hill at
University College Dublin identified important genetic information relat-
ing to racing performance. Her discovery led to the development of a
‘speed gene’ test to help match horses with courses and to inform breed-
ing and training decisions. Irish company Equinome now uses the test to
provide services to the global bloodstock industry. www.equinome.com
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
Over the past decade, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) has built a com-
munity of approximately 3,000 researchers in Ireland. Through this
investment, Ireland has speedily ascended the international rankings of
scientific research capability, from 36th place in 2003 to a consolidated
position inside the top 20 in recent times. Particular strengths have
emerged with Irish research ranked highly in various fields for scientific
citations: 3rd in the world for immunology (Thomson Reuters) and 8th
in the world for materials science (Thomson Reuters).
RANKED HIGHLY
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
erwin Schrödingererwin Schrödingererwin SchrödingerWhat is Life?
AN IMPORTANT INFLUENCE ON MODERN BIOLOGY
Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) is well known for his contributions to quantum physics.
Schrödinger was also behind an important moment in biology, when he published the
book What is Life?, which looked at the physics and chemistry that underpins living
organisms. The book, which was an inspiration to the pioneers of molecular biology, was
based on a series of public lectures Schrödinger gave in 1943 under the auspices of
the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies (DIAS), where he was the first Director at the
School of Theoretical Physics. Schrödinger remained at DIAS until his retirement in 1955.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
THE BEAUFORT SCALE
Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, FRS, FRGS (1774-1857) was
an Irish hydrographer and officer in Britain’s Royal Navy. Beaufort
was the creator of the Beaufort Scale for indicating wind force.
THE BIG TELESCOPE IN BIRR
In the 1840s, Birr in County Offaly was home one of the largest telescopes
in the world. The reflecting ‘Leviathan’ telescope was designed and built
by the Third Earl of Rosse, William Parsons (1800-1867) at Birr Castle.
He used the telescope to discover the spiral nature of some galaxies.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?
County Carlow-born physicist John Tyndall
(1820-1893) came up with the answer to that
question in the 19th century: it is because of
the way shorter-wavelength light is scattered
by molecules in the atmosphere.
Tyndall also made the important observation that
moist air absorbs more heat than dry air, which
was a major step in understanding the “green-
house effect” that keeps Earth’s atmosphere warm
enough to support life. And importantly, his work
suggested that the composition of the atmosphere
affects climate.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
EARTHQUAKE PIONEER
Irish scientist and engineer Robert Mallet (1810-1881) was a pioneer of modern seismology, the study of earthquakes. In the mid-19th century he and his son buried gunpowder in the sand at a dublin beach. When they detonated it, they were able to measure the shock waves that moved through the ground over a distance of half a mile. In 1857, Mallet senior used the new technology of photography to record and assess the contours of damage caused by a major earthquake in Southern Italy. He also identified zones around the world that were prone to earthquakes.
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
010203040506070809101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Science Foundation Ireland would like to thank the following organisations
for their assistance in sourcing some of the images included in this book.
Applied Optics Group / Royal Dublin Society / Fáilte Ireland / Trinity College
Dublin / University College Cork / University College Dublin / NUI Galway /
NUI Maynooth / Mutebutton.ie
ESOF 2012
This summer, Dublin will play host to Europe’s largest multidisciplinary Science Conference,
the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF 2012). From July 27th 2012 over 5,000 international
researchers, policy makers, business leaders and global media will gather in the Convention
Centre Dublin to take part in ESOF 2012 and will discuss new discoveries and debate
the direction that research is taking in the sciences. A science conference like no other,
ESOF 2012 is unique in representing the largest convergence of the Sciences, Humanities and
Culture in Europe in 2012. ESOF is the biennial pan-European meeting dedicated to
scientific research and innovation. The programme will cover all of the current major
global scientific challenges, including Health, Food, Energy and Climate Change.
Furthermore, it will also look at fundamental issues such as The Life and Death of
the Universe, Who are we?, Where did we come from?, and Where we are going?
FIND OUT MORE AT WWW.ESOF2012.ORG
Wilton Park House, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland
[email protected] / www.sfi.ie / twitter.com/scienceirel