18 famous Irish scientists World class players

Francis Beaufort (1774-1857) Invented the Beaufort Wind Scale

Francis Beaufort(1774-1857) Invented the Beaufort Wind Scale

John Bell(1928-1990) A leading theoretical physicist of the 20th century

JD Bernal (1901-1971) Brilliant pioneer of molecular biology

George Boole(1815-1864) The father of computer science

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Robert Boyle(1627-1691) The father of chemistry

Denis P Burkitt (1911-1993) Pioneering epidemiologist

Jocelyn Bell-Burnell(1943- ) Discovered pulsars

Rev Nicholas Callan(1799-1864) Inventor of the induction coil

George F Fitzgerald(1851-1901) Prefigured the special theory of relativity

William Rowan Hamilton(1805-1865) Pioneering mathematician and arguably Ireland's greatest scientist

Kathleen Lonsdale(1903-1971) Pioneering X-ray crystallographer

William Parsons(1800-1867) Built the then-largest telescope in the world at Birr and saw first clear images of galaxies through his giant telescope

Charles Parsons(1854-1931) His steam turbine revolutionised marine transport

George G Stokes(1819-1903) Established the science of hydrodynamics

George J Stoney(1826-1911) Named the electron

William Thomson(1824-1907) Giant of 19th century physics

John Tyndall(1820-1893) Explained why the sky is blue

Ernest Walton(1903-1995) First scientist, together with John Cockcroft, to split the atom, and shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with Cockcroft