Science, Colonialism and Ireland

Looking at the activities of Irish scientists between 1890 and 1930, at the very moment of independence, revolution and civil war, this book demonstrates how the activities of science are shaped by the society in which it is situated. The different fates of the Royal Dublin Society, Trinity College, the Royal College of Science, the Royal Irish Academy, and the National University show the decisive impact which political events had on Irish science and on individual scientists in Ireland.The issue of colonialism, though "proved" in the areas of literature and culture, is not easily resolved with regard to science. Using case studies - the Atlantic slope crustacea, the Tyrone trilobite and the Wright foraminifera - and research on other colonial or imperial sciences, Whyte demonstrates the complex relationship between imperial and Irish science.The other major question revolves around the Catholic church s restrictions on the practice of scientific research. Whyte contends that there is very little evidence to show that this was the case in nineteenth- or twentieth-century Ireland. "Science, Colonialism and Ireland"will become the defining study of the history of science in Ireland"