Lecture by Prof. Luke O’Neill
Professor Luke O’Neill of the School of Biochemistry and Immunology in TCD is one of Ireland’s top scientists. As an indication of that, he won the 2009 RDS Irish Times Boyle medal, and most recently was recognised as the 2009 SFI Researcher of the Year, at the SFI Science Summit, held in Athlone on Monday and Tuesday of this week.
Professor O’Neill will be conferred with the Boyle medal, and give a public lecture at the RDS on Monday, November 16, entitled “From Passion to Practical Benefits: Why it’s Great Being a Scientist“. To quote:
Luke O’Neill, Professor of Biochemistry at TCD, has been awarded Ireland’s premier science award, the RDS Irish Times Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence, for his pioneering work on the molecular understanding of innate immunity and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Following the conferral of the Medal, Professor O’Neill will give a public lecture on his groundbreaking discoveries and his passion for science. He will describe what drew him to science as a career – from the desire to satisfy curiosity about the big questions of who we are, where we came from and where we’re going – to how science is a superb pursuit and why scientists are the best of people.
He will describe his own discoveries in the field of immunology and explain why Charles Darwin, Ilya Mechnikov and Gary Larson are his heroes. The practical benefits of science and his own research, how essential it is for governments to support fundamental scientific research, and how science can save the world will be discussed also.
Well worth checking out if you can. You need to register to attend, and I suspect that it will be well attended.