Ernest Walton, Irish Nobel laureate in physics

Ernest Walton, Irish Nobel laureate in physics

In the latest episode of Scibernia, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of Irish physicist Ernest Walton’s “splitting of the atom” and find out why dark clouds could be gathering over science in Irish classrooms.

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In this episode:

  • Our reporter Gerard Cunningham goes to DCU to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Ernest Walton‘s ‘splitting of the atom‘ (though technically that’s not what he did — listen to the podcast to find out more!). Walton ultimately became the only ever Irish person to win a Nobel prize in a science discipline for the breakthrough.
  • And Sylvia visits the Irish Science Teachers’ Association‘s 50th annual conference, where she talks to teachers about the challenges science teachers face in the classroom and hears some sobering numbers about how schools are dropping science subjects due to budget cuts. She caught up with Irish science teacher Humphrey Jones, US chemistry teacher Bob Becker and ISTA chairperson Yvonne Higgins at the conference.
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Photo: Nobel Foundation

Scibernia podcast episode 31: celebrating science teachers and atom-splitters Download