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On Blow-Ins

Posted in Biographical, Maynooth with tags , , on May 25, 2026 by telescoper
ox-eye daisies

At the start of the spring gardening season I decided to leave a bed that I had cleared unplanted to see what would grow there of its own accord. I expected standard weeds like dandelions, and did get a few of those, but more recently I have a considerable number of Ox-eye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare). The flowers look very like those of regular daisies (of which I also have a few on the front lawn) but the plants are much bigger: I estimate they’re about 80cm tall. Anyway, I find the white and yellow very striking against the green foliage behind so I’m very happy to see these wild flowers thriving.

These must have blown in as seeds, along with the numerous other wild flowers I have in the garden. That reminds me that the term “blow-in” is used colloquially in Ireland to denote someone who has just moved into a town or village where they have no deep familial roots. I’ve been called a “blow-in” many times, not always in a friendly way.

This reminds me of  an article I saw in the Irish Times soon after arriving here about British immigrants in Ireland. Being one such myself I find a lot of it rings true. You can read the article here (I don’t think it’s behind a paywall). I think it’s well worth a look.

I found quite a few things in it resonate quite strongly with my experiences since I arrived here a couple of years ago. Top of these was the realization of just how ignorant I was about Irish history, thanks to the almost total neglect of this topic in British schools. Lack of education inevitably leads to lack of understanding and more often than not leads to prejudice and one finds a lot of that in the attitude of British people, even senior figures (many of them “educated” at Oxford) who are supposed to know better.

I was also struck by the “Not Really Irish” tag, which I think about rather a lot. It’s not really just a question of whether or not you have Irish citizenship or an Irish passport, it’s about the extent to which you belong. I spent over fifty years living in England and Wales so I’m missing a huge amount of cultural background pertaining to Ireland. I won’t ever be able to catch up all that so I don’t suppose I’ll ever feel `really Irish’. Of course people speak English here, but I’m very conscious that I have a funny accent. I suppose that means I’ll always feel like a stranger in Ireland. If there is predominant attitude towards the British over here, however, in my experience it is one of sympathy rather than hostility.

Anyway, since I am a metaphorical blow-in I suppose it’s only fair that I have so many literal ones in my garden!

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Not in Barcelona…

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical, Maynooth with tags , , , on May 25, 2026 by telescoper

So much has happened since that it’s hard to believe that just two years ago I was enjoying a sabbatical in Barcelona. I was delighted when it was announced that this year’s Euclid Consortium Meeting would be held there, but when I saw the dates (25th to 29th May) I was worried that the meeting might clash with examining duties. When the examination timetable was published a couple of months ago, that possibility became a reality and I realized that I couldn’t attend. In fact I have an examination to deal with tomorrow, and will be grading the scripts for the rest of the week ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend.

It’s a shame I can’t make the EC meeting because this will be the last one before the first main release of data, DR1, which is scheduled to take place on October 21st this year. I’ve been following progress in the science working group on galaxy clustering via weekly Zoom conferences, but it would have been nice to see what has been going on in the other groups as well as catching up with colleagues in person as opposed to online.

The second data release, DR2 will not happen until March 2029, by which time I will have retired. In fact there will be at most two Euclid Consortium meetings that I can attend – in 2027 and 2028 – and the second of those may be after my retirement. The final data release, DR3, will happen in October 2031.

It’s worth also mentioning that there will be another Quick Release of data, this one from the Euclid Galactic Bulge Survey, on June 24 this year. There will be quite a lot of press activity around that, but I’m not involved in it.

Here is the complete timeline for reference:

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone involved in the Euclid Consortium Meeting an enjoyable and productive time in Barcelona as well as a fun stay in what is truly an amazing city. I’ll be enjoying the beautiful weather in Maynooth (25°C and sunny) while all the participants are slaving over hot cosmology.

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On My Knees

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , , , , on May 22, 2026 by telescoper

It has taken a bit longer that I expected to get this far but I have now completed the grading of one of my modules. It wasn’t the written examination that took all the time, but the marking of the computational physics projects. This is always a slow job but for some reason it took even longer this year. Anyway, all components of the assessment for that module are now done and dusted and everything uploaded.

To add to the fun and games, last week I did the biannual trip to Naas for my anti-arthritis injections. I’ve been doing this regularly for some years now and it has become routine. When I first started I was told that there was a risk of one or both knees swelling up, but that has never happened. Until last week, that is. My right knee decided to swell up alarmingly. Although this was not really painful, I was forced to stay at home to rest and periodically apply a bag of ice. That worked well enough that I could go to last Friday’s concert (with the aid of a walking-stick) but it wasn’t until Sunday that I was properly recovered.

The alarm having passed I am now starting to feel the benefit of the jabs. I am planning sometime soon to walk from Maynooth to Dublin along the Royal Canal, that being the last leg of the National Famine Way. I want to be sure I can manage the 27km walk before attempting to do the full walk later in the summer. The weather is set fair for a few days so I might give it a go next week, assuming I manage to finish all my examining duties promptly. It’s the season finale at the National Concert Hall next Friday – followed by a long weekend break when I will be travelling a little, so I might try to do it on Thursday.

My next examination is not until Tuesday morning so, after several days of being shut away doing corrections, I can now spend a few days until the scripts are ready to collect doing numerous things that I’ve let slip while I’ve been busy. For one thing I have an inbox full of unanswered emails to attend to.

But for now I’m quite tired and in the mood only to vegetate.

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Cat Crainn

Posted in Irish Language, Maynooth with tags , , , , , on May 21, 2026 by telescoper

In Irish, a pine marten – such as the one shown on the left – is cat crainn which means literally “cat of the tree” or, less clumsily, “tree cat”. The word for “tree” in the nominative case is crann and the genitive meaning “of the tree” is crainn. They are about the size of a domestic cat.

I mention the pine marten partly because a while ago it came up on Bitesize Irish, which is a way I’m trying to add to my meagre vocabulary of Irish words and phrases, and partly because the story of these animals is quite fascinating. Pine martens have existed in Ireland for thousands of years alongside native red squirrels whose habitat is similar. More recently the invasive grey squirrels arrived and bullied their smaller red cousins into decline. Pine martens were also in serious decline because of hunting and deforestation and were critically endangered until recently, when legal protections were introduced. Now the population is growing and they are spreading into new areas.

Pine martens are fierce predators who eat all kinds of small mammals including rats and voles as well as squirrels. Having coexisted with them for ages, red squirrels have learnt to avoid pine martens quite effectively. Pine martens will try to catch them but don’t find them easy prey. Grey squirrels are a different matter, though, so there has been a big difference in the rate of predation with the grey squirrels being forced out of many areas. This differential effect has been excellent news for the red squirrels, whose population is recovering strongly.

I’m told that there are pine martens on the campus at Maynooth, though I have never actually seen one in the flesh and am not sure where they live. This is not surprising – they are secretive and good at hiding. There are grey squirrels on Maynooth campus too. I have seen many. I’ve never seen any red squirrels though. If the pine martens thrive, perhaps that will change?

Although undeniably cute, with their chocolate-coloured coat and creamy yellow bib, pine martens are wild animals and will bite if you give them cause. The word for “bite” in Irish is greim.

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On the Use of Generative AI

Posted in Artificial Intelligence, Education, Maynooth with tags , , , , , , on May 18, 2026 by telescoper

We’ve reached the time of year at Maynooth when academic staff are busy grading projects of various kinds. This year we have to be much mindful of the use of Large Language Models (such as ChatGPT) in written reports as these are much more commonplace now. We anticipated this at the start of the academic year, but now we have to see whether are policies work in practice. In the case of the Computational Physics projects that I have to mark, this also extends to the use of Generative AI in writing code. The approach I take there is that I don’t place an absolute ban, but I require students to declare the use and, crucially, describe what steps they used to test and validate the output. By the time they’ve done that they might as well have written the code themselves!

As well as its effect on teaching, GenAI is having a huge impact on research. In my role as Managing Editor of the Open Journal of Astrophysics I have seen a large increase in submissions of papers in which AI plays some role. These vary from pure “slop” – nonsense papers not worthy of serious consideration – to articles that use AI tools in a perfectly reasonable way to speed up certain aspects of the analysis. I think this is the case for most scientific journals.

The approach we have adopted is similar to the policy on teaching outlined above. It is described by the following section we have added to our “For Authors” page:

Use of Generative AI. We do not operate a blanket ban on the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) or other forms of Generative AI. If you do use such tools, however, you must declare it in the acknowledgments section of your paper. Furthermore, if GenAI methods are used for any form of calculation, analysis, or data visualization you must include an account of what steps you have taken to test and validate these methods. Articles containing direct evidence of the use of GenAI, such as hallucinated references or prompts embedded in the text, will not be accepted.

Since the Open Journal of Astrophysics is an arXiv-overlay journal I should also pass on the information that arXiv is itself developing a policy on the use of LLMs. Although it has yet to appear on the arXiv website, a recent communication on social media states:

If there is incontrovertible evidence of LLM slop in a paper, this means the authors did not take the time to read the LLM output and we can’t trust anything else in the paper. Penalty is 1 year ban from arXiv followed by a requirement that subsequent arXiv submissions must first be accepted at a reputable peer-reviewed venue.

This will be tantamount to a one-year ban from publishing in OJAp, so urge authors should be be very careful in their use of such methods.

It is likely that these policies will have to be extended as the use of GenAI spreads.

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After Lectures but before Examinations

Posted in Education, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , on May 14, 2026 by telescoper

This morning I did my last teaching session of the Academic Year 2025-6, an informal revision lecture/tutorial on Computational Physics. It was optional, for the students, as this is officially a study break, and was at 9am, and only a handful of students showed up, but I hope those that did found it useful. As is often the case with optional sessions, I think the students who came were the keenest and probably therefore those who least needed last-minute tips for the examination, but that’s always the way.

In the past such revision classes have been routine, at least for me, but for some reason the University has taken to locking most of the teaching rooms during the study break. This causes huge problems finding a space to do revision sessions. I really don’t understand this. There are constant complaints from students about the lack of study space, and the response from the University is that right before the examinations they lock dozens of empty rooms.

Anyway, the Examination Period starts tomorrow morning, Friday15th, but most of the students who turned up this morning have their first examination on Tuesday 19th May (which happens to be Computational Physics).

take the opportunity to wish all students the best for their examinations:

You shouldn’t really be relying on luck of course, so here are some tips (especially for physics students, but applicable elsewhere).

  1. Try to get a good night’s sleep before the examination and arrive in plenty of time before the start. Spending all night cramming is unlikely to help you do well.
  2. Prepare well in advance so you’re relaxed when the time comes.
  3. Read the entire paper before starting to answer any questions. In particular, make sure you are aware of any supplementary information, formulae, etc, given in the rubric or at the end. You can always ask for log tables if there’s something you can’t remember.
  4. Start off by tackling the question you are most confident about answering, even if it’s not Question 1. This will help settle any nerves. You’re under no obligation to answer the questions in the order they are asked.
  5. Don’t rush! Students often lose marks by making careless errors. In particular, check all your working out, including numerical results obtained your calculator, at least twice
  6. Please remember the UNITS!
  7. Don’t panic! You’re not expected to answer everything perfectly. A first-class mark is anything over 70%, so don’t worry if there are bits you can’t do. If you get stuck on a part of a question, don’t waste too much time on it (especially if it’s just a few marks). Just leave it and move on. You can always come back to it later.

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Maynooth University Library Cat Update

Posted in Maynooth with tags , on May 13, 2026 by telescoper

I thought young Séamus (aka Maynooth University Library Cat) was fast asleep when I saw him under a tree, but I think he was just pretending as he had his beady eye on something…

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Lectures’ End

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , on May 8, 2026 by telescoper

At last we’ve made it to the end of term. This morning I delivered my last particle physics lecture. Given that it is the last day of the semester I was half-expecting no students would turn up, but in the end I had about 60% attendance. At the end of my lecture there was even a smattering of applause, which I interpreted as meaning that the students were happy that I’d finished.

I thought I would end this module with some topics that I didn’t have time to cover in any detail, but thought the students should know at least something about. These loose ends included:

  • Renormalization
  • Grand Unified Theories (GUTS)
  • Supersymmetry (SUSY)
  • Particle candidates for Dark Matter
  • Baryogenesis

I only had time for a superficial treatment of these topics, but felt the class should at least hear the words. There are some very good unanswered research questions under those headings, which I think is an appropriate way to end a final-year module, given that at least some of the class are intending to carry on to further study in physics.

This afternoon we had a colloquium by our PhD student John Ibrahim on the subject of the “Quark‑Gluon Vertex and Confinement of Quarks”. It was a nice talk but it struck me how big the gap was between what I’d been teaching at undergraduate level and the standard that a PhD student has to reach.

Today was also the deadline for Computational Physics projects. I’ll be grading them next week. Even then the term won’t quite be over – there is the small matter of exam marking to be done – but at least I’ve got no more formal teaching to do until September.

Last night on the way home I decided to buy a nice bottle of white wine and put it in the fridge so I could drink it in celebration of the end of term when I get home, with a nice fish supper.

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Last Chance Lab

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , , on May 7, 2026 by telescoper

Today is the penultimate day of teaching in the Spring Semester at Maynooth University and I’m here in the Computer Lab for the last time. This afternoon’s session is just a drop-in consultation session for Computational Physics students doing their projects and although it has been busier than previous weeks it has not exactly been a hive of activity. The deadline for project submissions is tomorrow afternoon, so I was expecting a bit of a rush at this session, which is the last of its type, and also at my office hour this morning. I did have one student attend this morning, and a couple of others this afternoon, but other than for them it has been quiet.

On the other hand, over a day before the deadline, three students have already submitted their project reports and code. I’m impressed with that, but also a little surprised. I’ve come to expect just-in-time delivery for such things.

Yesterday I did my last particle physics tutorial of the year and followed that immediately afterwards I attended a long session of final-year project talks, from 3pm to just after 6pm. It is obvious that some students find these presentations a bit of an ordeal but it is important to learn how to present your work so such things are part of the rite of passage. It is good for staff to get an overview of the all projects being done in the Department too.

In previous years the final project presentations for students in the Departments of Theoretical Physics and Experimental Physics were done separately, the former having a somewhat smaller audience than the latter. The two previous Departments having merged into a single Department of Physics, this time round we had all the talks together (though spread over two days, yesterday and the Wednesday before). I think the combined sessions worked quite well and we will probably do it this way next year.

After the session of talks there was a small drinks party in the foyer of the Science Building. That was a nice occasion, and it struck me that it would have been the last time this group of students would all meet together until their graduation. Tomorrow I do my last particle physics lecture and it will be the last time I see quite a few of the students in that class until graduation too. They’ve been a nice group to work with, very engaged and easy to interact with. It is a great pleasure to be teaching students who are eager to learn . That’s the aspect of academic life I’ll miss the most when I retire.

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Maynooth University Library Cat Update

Posted in Maynooth with tags , , , on May 6, 2026 by telescoper

This lunchtime I saw Maynooth University Library Cat in a more pastoral setting than usual. Having just had his lunch, it being sunny, and the area around the Library being somewhat busy, I reckon he had it in mind to have a quiet snooze in the shade of the trees.

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