Outreach in the 1970s

Century of Endeavour

Outreach in the 1970s

(c) Roy Johnston 2003

I feel I need to set up a module referencing what I found myself doing which was in the same spirit as my father's 'Barrington Lectures', namely trying to explain professional mysteries to a lay public. I give this the 'Outreach' label and regard it as being part of the 'Barrington' theme for access via Appendix 7.

The Irish Times Science and Technology Column

This column, which ran from January 1970 to December 1976, was influential at the time in making at least some of the Irish Times readership aware of what was going on, and how the Government, with its new National Science Council headed by Colm O h-Eocha, was interacting with it. I fulfilled the role of 'science critic' and I found myself to some extent shadowing the NSC.

Subsequently in the 1980s I used a period of research leave at the end of my TCD contract to collect it and make it computer-accessible. I edited it down into a series of chronological snapshots within themes, which I hoped to publish, under the title 'In Search of Techne', the Greek word Techne having the connotation 'transformation of knowledge into utility'. This edited version I am making available.

The publishing firm Tycooley expressed an interest in it, seeing it as relevant to their main market, which was the UN development agencies, but regrettably the firm went out of business, so the book remains unpublished, except in the current electronic form.

[1980s Outreach] [Barrington Overview]
[To 'Century' Contents Page] [1970s Overview]

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