Archive for Little Book of Irish Research

Gearing up for Thursday’s Euclid News

Posted in Euclid, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , , , on May 21, 2024 by telescoper

It’s a hectic time ahead of a Big Event on Thursday 23rd May, which will include the publication of five new Early Release Observations (EROs). I’m not at liberty to say what they are until after 12 noon (CEST) on Thursday except that they’re very pretty. You can watch the live stream here:

Including the five released on November 7th 2023 that will bring the total to ten. All the ERO pictures will be available on the ESA archive here.

Thursday will also see the release of ten scientific papers related to the EROs; they will appear on arXiv on Friday 24th May. These will be the first science results from the Euclid mission.

But that’s not all! Thursday will also see the publication of five papers from the Euclid Consortium (of which I am the sole member based in Ireland). These will be the principal technical reference papers aimed at the astronomical community about the Euclid mission, covering the instruments, cosmology and other astronomy science possibilities, as well as the cosmological simulations used to assist the analysis of the mission. One of these, the main overview paper for the mission, has over a thousand authors (one of whom is your truly).

Thursday’s announcements are likely to significant level of press interest. That’s not only due to the European Space Agency’s own social media feeds and the like, but also local activities in Ireland. For example, there’s this from Science Foundation Ireland using this, from the Little Book of Irish Research:

I have also written a piece for RTÉ Brainstorm, as a kind of update on the one I wrote last year on the occasion of the launch; this will go live after the embargo is lifted on Thursday.

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The Little Book of Irish Research

Posted in Euclid, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags , on January 30, 2024 by telescoper

A few months ago, I blogged on the occasion of the launch by Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, of the Little Book of Irish Research. This book, which is aimed at school students, so is written at an elementary level, gives quick summaries of areas of research that the general public said that they were interested in, grouped into sixteen themes, and it will be distributed to schools all round Ireland.

if you want to read it here is a PDF file of the whole thing for you to download at your leisure. When I posted about it last time I hadn’t actually seen a hard copy, but I finally got my hands on one:

I can now confirm that it is indeed a little book. I think we’ll find it useful for our own outreach events, open days, etc, in the Department of Theoretical Physics, and so will the many colleagues in other Departments in other universities and research institutes whose work is also featured.

I was very gratified to see myself get a mention (on page 41), though it’s not really about me but about Euclid which has generated considerable interest in the general public already and is set to continue doing that for many years. As you can see, there’s also a double-page spread of JWST, though unfortunately it does not name the scientists involved; Paddy Kavanagh is the main man at Maynooth for matters JWST.

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The Little Book of Irish Research

Posted in Euclid, Maynooth, The Universe and Stuff with tags , on November 18, 2023 by telescoper

Yesterday, the last day of Science Week, saw the launch by Simon Harris TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, of the Little Book of Irish Research. This book, which is aimed at school students, so is written at an elementary level, gives quick summaries of areas of research that the general public said that they were interested in, grouped into sixteen themes, and it will be distributed to schools all round Ireland.

I was very gratified to see myself get a mention (on page 41), though it’s not really about me but about Euclid which has generated considerable interest in the general public already and is set to continue doing that for many years. As you can see, there’s also a double-page spread of JWST, though unfortunately it does not name the scientists involved; Paddy Kavanagh is the main man at Maynooth for matters JWST.

I understand The Little Book of Irish Research will be the focus of a social media campaign over coming weeks, which will hopefully make more people more aware of the research going on in all disciplines in Ireland. I think we’ll find it useful for our own outreach events, open days, etc, in the Department of Theoretical Physics, and so will the many colleagues in other Departments whose work is also featured.

I haven’t seen hard copies of the book yet, as I’m in Barcelona, but if you want to read it here is a PDF file of the whole thing for you to download at your leisure.

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