Science communicator and former Irish Times journalist Mary Mulvihill will be commemorated by a plaque at her former home in Dublin, which will be unveiled on Saturday, November 6th, 3.30pm. The plaque will be erected at Manor Street, Stoneybatter, Dublin, where the writer, broadcaster, commentator and tour guide lived up to her death in 2015, aged 55.
The erection of the plaque has been initiated and funded by the Mary Mulvihill Association and supported by the National Committee for Commemorative Plaques in Science and Technology. It takes its place alongside over 70 plaques around the country marking the homes or workplaces of scientists and engineers.
Unveiling the plaque, space broadcaster Leo Enright will pay tribute to Mary Mulvihill. “We celebrate Mary for her warmth and her humanity, but also for her passion. She was determined that Irish science should take its rightful place within Ireland’s national culture – it’s as much a part of the Irish cultural tradition as our poetry, our art and our music,” says Enright. “She would have been utterly dismayed by the news that the Science Gallery at TCD faces closure, and would have been the first to lead a campaign to save it!”
The Mary Mulvihill Association was formed soon after her death to preserve her legacy in making science and, in particular, Ireland’s scientific heritage, more accessible and visible to many sectors of the public.
The association organises an annual student media science competition, now in its fifth year. The current competition has the theme, Water. A prize of €2,000 will be awarded to the outright winner.