Nick Maxwell ‘ONE SMALL SCRATCH FOR A MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MATHEMATICS’ On a bright Monday morning, on 16 October 1843, the world of mathematics was changed forever. William Rowan Hamilton was walking along the banks of the Royal Canal in Dublin with his wife, Helen. As he passed Broombridge in Cabra, he had a flash … Read more
Thousands of years before global giants like Apple and Amazon introduced them to the mass market as a technological breakthrough, the humble tablet was already being used in ancient Mesopotamia. The process of marking or inscribing clay tablets with characters, constituting an early form of writing, dates back to the fourth millennium BC. Several Irish … Read more
At eleven sharp on the morning of 12 March 1798, a force of thirteen sergeants and a servant, under the command of Justice of the Peace William Swan, descended on the house of Oliver Bond, a wealthy cloth merchant, on Bridge Street in Dublin. Disguised in their street clothes and supplied with the secret password, … Read more
ir,—I am endeavouring to make a study, possibly a book, on Irish heraldic souvenirs often known as Goss ware. Readers may recall that I wrote an article on the topic in a previous issue (Artefacts, HI 20.3, May/June 2012). Please does anyone know of, or could anyone send images of, such ware for towns in … Read more
ir,—Having read Mr McAlister’s reply (Letters, HI 23.4, July/Aug. 2015) with interest, I notice that he has not addressed the issues which I raised. Nowhere in my letter (HI 23.3, May/June 2015) was there a suggestion of a joint remembrance ceremony commemorating the 1916 Rising and the Battle of the Somme. I do, however, believe … Read more