Welcome
Ernest Walton (1903-1995)
Welcome to the Ernest Walton Society.
Our aim is to advertise, record and disseminate the contribution that Ireland has made to the Scientific method, from Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691) to the present day.
The Society is named after Ireland's sole Nobel Laureate in the Sciences, Ernest Walton, who shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics with John Cockcroft for their work demonstrating that a lithium atom could be split into two α particles (helium nuclei) and energy, by bombarding it with protons.
This was not only the first demonstration that one atom could be transmuted into another, but was also the first experimental verification of Einstein's famous equation, e = mc².
This discovery, of course, was to have enormous consequences for the history of the 20th century.
It directly lead to the discovery of nuclear fission by Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner in 1939, to the development of the atomic bomb in 1945, and to the development of nuclear power.
Philosophy of the Society
Walton, Ernest Rutherford and Cockcroft,
soon after their success in splitting the
atom. (About 1933).
We wish to record Ireland's contribution to the scientific method in the most general way possible, and to put that contribution in a historical perspective. Thus
- We will not limit ourselves to Irish scientists, but to Ireland's contribution, whatever the nationality of the individual.
- Thus Erwin Schrödinger (who was Austrian) but who also wrote What is Life? in Dublin in 1948 will figure prominently.
- Only those who have made an internationally-recognised contribution will be included.
- We will interpret the word scientist liberally. Mathematicians such as William Rowan Hamilton (whose work is internationally recognised as being of the higest repute) will be included.
- As mentioned above, we aim to assess the historical significance of each discovery, and to highlight the importance of each discovery to the advancement of knowledge
Join Us
Erwin Schrödinger
(1887-1961)
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