I gave a paper to the Dublin University Experimental Science Association (DUESA) in or about 1947 or 48 on the historical interaction between discovery and political development. It was broadly based on the Hessen paper of 1932 on the 'social and economic roots of Newton's Principia', which had influenced Bernal to write his 'Social Function of Science'. I seem to recollect that much of it was devoted to the problem of finding position at sea, and its influence on trying to understand the movements of the moon and the planets, in the context of the longitude problem. If I can find any clues as to what I actually said I will put them in here. Perhaps the Hessen paper will turn up.

JJ in the Seanad at this time was promoting investment into scientific research on peat as a raw material for a chemical industry. He also contributed to the debate on the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, on the occasion when TCD sold Dunsink Observatory to them, and used the occasion to regale the Seanad with the history of TCD contributions to world science.

JJ had encouraged me to study science, but had little actual scientific knowledge himself.

I was acutely aware of the mismatch between the possession of a Physics degree, which was my target, and the possibility of being employed in Ireland. I set my sights on the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies as a possibility. I felt inhibited about a teaching job, due to my stammer. So in or about 1950 I took advantage of a course which the DIAS put on, based on Elmore and Sands book on pulse electronics, encapsulating the electronic experience which had arisen out of the 'Manhattan Project', as the Los Alamos nuclear weapons development was known. This course was delivered by one McCusker, who ran a cloud-chamber experiment in the DIAS Merrion Square 'Cosmic Physics' building. The cloud-chamber was triggered by logical circuits actuated by Geiger counters which detected cosmic-ray charged-particles. McCusker's experiment, being with a relatively small system at sea level, never came to anything, but he understood electronics and imparted the lore successfully.

This proved to be an asset when I went to Paris in 1951 and joined the Ecole Polytechnique team. We had a huge cloud chamber, on top of a mountain, where the cosmic-ray intensity was much higher, and the system was productive. I was able to transmit to French science-related technology the Elmore and Sands experience via McCusker. Thus I had an early example of how science and technology interact, and become related to a productive process.

Some navigational notes:

Copyright Dr Roy Johnston 1999