This site celebrates Robert Boyle (1627-1691) one of the most influential founders of experimental science. Since 2012 we have organised the annual Robert Summer School in Waterford celebrating his life and legacy and considering the place of science and technology in our society and culture. In 2018 the complementary Robert Boyle Winter School was established in Dublin. Read more about Robert Boyle.
Ireland has a wonderful tradition of annual summer schools where adults can come together in a sociable environment to engage with culture, conversation and ideas. There are long established ones such as the Merriman Summer School in Clare, founded in 1968 to celebrate the poet Brian Merriman and Irish culture and language of Thomand. The Willie Clancy Summer School, established in the 1970s, celebrates the piper Willie Clancy and traditional music. The MacGill Summer School dates from the 1980s and celebrates the writer Patrick MacGill and explores social, economic and political issues. There are many more excellent events celebrating aspects of culture and famous Irish people, but there was no science!
For many years, the CALMAST team in Waterford had been promoting the legacy of Waterford-born Robert Boyle (1627-1691), Believing that science is an important part of our culture and one that is not widely recognised as such in Ireland, Calmast decided to establish a science themed cultural summer school.
The first annual summer school ran in 2012 in the heritage town of Lismore and includes talks, discussions and social events. The audience is generally comprised equally people with a science background and people without.
The separation of science and (other areas of) culture is not unique to Ireland and perhaps different countries have different expressions of this phenomenon. Sixty-five years ago (7 May 1959) C.P. Snow claimed that a division existed between science and the arts that was a dangerous threat to Western society. In his Rede lecture “The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution” he claims some authority as a novelist and scientist but the argument is strongly pro-science. The work is admittedly flawed and of its time, but has been very influential. Ultimately he argues that it would be mutually beneficial to both camps to build bridges between the disciplines. As Snow’s lecture reaches the age of 65 on the week we will take this as a cue for RBSS 2024. So as not to spread our attention too thinly we will focus on art and largely on visual art.
For the 9th Robert Boyle Summer School, our patron Michael D Higgins, the President of Ireland, was unable to attend. However, he left us a message which you can read by clicking on the image to the right.
The two schools are organised by CALMAST at South East Technological University and Lismore Heritage Centre with support of Lismore Castle, the Robert Boyle Foundation, interested groups and professional bodies and industry in the region.
This site is managed by CALMAST, the STEM Engagement Centre at South East Technological University (SETU).