UCC President Professor John O'Halloran

Dear Colleagues, 

“I live here in a barbarous country, where chemical spirits are so misunderstood, 

and chemical instruments so unprocurable, that it is hard to have any 

hermetical thoughts in it, and impossible to bring them to experiment…” 

So said one Robert Boyle  - natural philosopher, chemist and indeed alchemist in 1654, commenting from Lismore Castle in despair about Ireland as a deeply inhospitable environment to his revolutionary pursuit of the scientific method.   

Less than two centuries later the scientific principles set down by Boyle and others were leading to rapid developments in the sciences, and especially in Physics and technology. In the 1840’s alone  Michael Faraday had shown how electricity can be generated by a changing magnetic field, opening the door to electrical energy generation on industrial scales: Charles Babbage was making critical advances in the development of the first mechanical computers (followed by our own  Percy Ludgate in 1909): William Thompson/Lord Kelvin (born in Belfast) proposed the absolute zero temperature scale: Samuel Morse sent the first message in Morse Code. Closer to home the 3rd Earl of Rosse in Birr was working on his “Leviathan of Parsonstown”, which would be the largest telescope in the world for the next 60 years. 

Cork itself at this time was a booming economic hub, with several engineering firms contributing to  many local industries, especially shipbuilding – indeed Cork was the centre for shipbuilding in Ireland at this time.  

But in parallel, and in contrast to the experience of Boyle almost 200 years previously,  the importance of scientific thought and education was very much understood in Cork in the 1800’s. This was exemplified by the defacto local precursor to UCC, the Royal Cork Institution,  founded in 1803 and supported by the patronage of many of the most successful businessmen of the city. The RCI offered courses and public lectures on science and scientific principles, including in Physics and astronomy. Members of the RCI were amongst those who lobbied for creation of a new college in Cork. 

Efforts such as these culminated in the 1845 “The Colleges (Ireland)” Act, proclaiming that "in or near the City of Cork in our province of Munster in Ireland there shall be and may be erected and established one perpetual College for students in Arts Law Physic and other useful learning which College shall be called by the name of 'Queen's College Cork'..."  

It seems natural then that, when QCC first opened its doors to its intake of 115 students on the 7th of November 1849, the sciences as we know them, including Natural Philosophy, were taught from the beginning: in that sense the history of UCC Physics is as old as that of UCC is itself, starting with the first Professor of Natural Philosophy, George Frederick Shaw, appointed in 1849. Under the following professor of Natural Philosophy John England, the university’s Crawford Observatory was completed in 1880, containing some of the most advanced telescopes of its day, designed and built by Sir Howard Grubb, and financed principally through the generosity of the local brewer and philanthropist William Horatio Crawford. 

After this initial momentum, Natural Philosophy (Physics from 1909) in QCC remained a relatively small enterprise, with most of the academic duties of the Department falling on the shoulders of the Professor of Physics. The appointment of additional staff in the 1920’s and 30’s began a slow but steady improvement. An example of such an appointee was Cormac O’Ceallaigh, a leading figure internationally in the discovery of new atomic particles.  Over the ensuing decades new staff joined, expanding the research portfolio of the school from Nuclear to Atomic, Plasma and Gravitational Physics. A new surge of life began in the 1990’s with the addition of Photonics and new collaborations with the NMRC: indeed since then UCC Physics has been the keystone linking UCC and the Tyndall Institute, to the mutual benefit of both – a example of the sum being greater than the parts.  Astrophysics, and most recently still Quantum Matter, serve to  complete the research repertoire  of the School. The School continues to expand, works constantly to enhance its teaching and research collaborations with other disciplines in UCC, Tyndall (e.g. via UCC Futures Quantum and Photonics) and further afield, and very much looks forward to the exciting research horizons that lie ahead. 

Since its earliest days,  UCC Physics has always prided itself on the rigour of its teaching, both by formal lectures and the hands-on laboratory experience. Physics has always had a deep sense of its duty of care to all of its students: furthermore, the relatively the small class numbers and the attention given to each student has resulted in a degree programme that is second to none internationally, widely recognised by its academic peers and most clearly demonstrated by the success of its graduates, either in industry or research, at home or abroad. Some have forged truly exceptional international research careers, from which we’ll be hearing later this afternoon.  

Hence, throughout its 175 years, UCC Physics has formed part of the bedrock of the teaching of fundamental science in UCC, for countless generations of students. More recently there has been a dynamic expansion of its research programme, which continues apace.  UCC itself holds the quality of its student experience, and the excellence of its research, as the strongest measures of its success: it is difficult to think of a School within this university that better reflects this ethos than the School of Physics.  

Looking at how the discoveries of Physics have revolutionised society over the past 175 years, there can be no doubt that, whatever happens in the future, spectacular discoveries in Physics will continue to play a fundamental role, and I have no doubt that Physics in UCC will play its part in the next 175 years of humanity’s journey of scientific discovery and technological innovation. 

I am delighted to be here to take part in this celebration of UCC Physics, and once again warmly welcome you all to the event this afternoon.