This February, the National Library launches Particles of the Past – Phase Four of the interactive multimedia exhibition Discover your National Library at 2/3 Kildare St. To celebrate Dublin City of Science 2012, the exhibition will showcase a fascinating selection of science-related gems from our collections.

With topics ranging from 17th century home remedies collected by Robert Boyle to the engineering feat of Ardnacrusha, from a handwritten journal recording Captain Cook’s second voyage to early photography, the exhibition promises to be as eclectic as it is interesting.

Particles of the Past is an interactive exhibition so, in addition to viewing items in their cases, visitors will be able to examine them in greater detail by using innovative ‘Discovery’ touchscreens. Each item will also have an accompanying video where visitors can listen to an expert discuss the item in greater depth.

Finally, visitors can also look forward to the conservation and preservation elements of the exhibition where they can see how science is used here in the NLI to protect individual items in our collections so that they can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Science Hack Day is an all-day-all-night (36 hour) event that brings scientists, engineers, computer scientists and designers together to find solutions (hacks) to real-life problems and questions during a brief but intense period of collaboration.

Dublin will be the 6th city in the world to run a Science Hack Day after London, San Francisco, Mexico City, Cincinnati and Cape Town with another 24 planned to run throughout 2012. Science Hack Days have become an international trend successfully bringing science and technology together by providing a platform for different types of creative and inquisitive minds to collaborate in the same physical space on focused tasks.

What is a Hack?

A hack is a quick solution to a problem – maybe not the most elegant solution, but often the cleverest. A common example of hacking would involve the mixing up data from different sources in new and interesting ways, or in more physical sense, repurposing or adding new features to old and dated equipment.

The idea behind ‘hacking’ science is not to break into computers and steal passwords, but to generate creative science tools using freely available technologies.  We won’t steal your credit cards or listen to your voice mails! ‘Real hackers’ find creative solutions to problems, and MAKE things.

Who attends a Science Hack Day?

Science Hack Day is for anyone with an interest in bringing science and technology together. If you’re a coder, designer, scientist, hacker, maker, statistician or simply enthusiastic about combining science and technology with good ideas, Science Hack Day is for you.

How do I register?

Science Hack Day Dublin will take place on March 3rd and 4th, 2012.  It is free to attend the event but registration is essential. To register or find out more details please see here – www.sciencehackdaydublin.com

So many people and organisations across Dublin and Ireland have joined forces in creating a  year long festival programme that combines the best of Irish culture, arts and science. Whether your passion is science, arts, culture or sport or whether you spend your time online or offline,  dreaming of the future or fixated on the past – come along to the Science Gallery the first Friday of every month to get to know us, but most importantly to get to know each other.

The tweet-ups are hosted by The Science Gallery a key hub for Dublin City of Science in 2012 which also happens to have the most delicious coffee (akin to rocket fuel), pizzas (that will transport your taste buds to the streets of Rome) and tasty treats in the cafe, should you get peckish.

For the twitter-ers, the bloggers, the facebookers, for those that are mourning bebo and even those that still use myspace – DON’T PANIC.  There will be wi-fi in @ScienceGallery just ask the kind faces at the front desk as you arrive and they will give you your wi-fi fix.

First Friday: February 3rd at the Science Gallery

Directions to the Science Gallery

Say hello to us on twitter @dubscience2012. We look forward to seeing you there.

Image: Irish Science Blogger Humphrey Jones (The Frog Blog)

They were joined by over 400 guests from the science, culture and arts communities that have joined forces in creating a  year long festival programme that combines the best of Irish culture, arts and science –  the programme consists of  over 160 science themed events across Dublin and Ireland including  photographic and art exhibitions, several theatre pieces, film festivals, tours, trails and treasure hunts, street performances, science buskers, large-scale interactive installations, experiments, science carnivals, public talks, debates and workshops.

A selection of events were announced at the launch which included St. Patrick’s Festival which will bring science alive in spectacular fashion during Ireland’s largest and most visually impactful artisitc performance, the ST. PATRICK’S DAY FESTIVAL PARADE and a FESTIVAL TREASURE HUNT.

Other events include a key Dublin City of Science hub, SCIENCE GALLERY which will provides an interface for science with art, technology and design. Speaking at the launch Founding Director Michael John Gorman said “Dublin City of Science is a fantastic opportunity to ignite passion for science, technology and innovation in Ireland”.  Science Gallery’s flagship exhibition for the year, HACK THE CITY,  will invite a diverse group of participants from Ireland and beyond to use Dublin as a test-bed for urban innovation. By unlocking the city’s infrastructure and true potential, it is set not only to be a highlight of 2012, but to further reinforce Dublin’s position as an agile and innovative global capital.

DUBLIN MAKER FAIRE, THE ARK, ROUGH MAGIC THEATRE COMPANY and the RTÉ NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA were also highlighted during the launch. For an example of what’s on offer for the year ahead.  see our FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS (over 160 events to be announced throughout the year).

The main event for 2012 is the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) 2012  which takes place in the Convention Centre Dublin in July. Dublin won the right to host this event in a competitive bid process back in 2008. ESOF 2012 is the largest general science meeting in Europe and is held in a different European city every two years.

ESOF 2012 will attract the world’s top scientists to Dublin from 11^th to 15^th July. It is expected that over 5,000 researchers, policy makers and international science media will come to our shores in the summer for ESOF.

Speaking at the Launch Professor Patrick Cunningham, Chief Scientific Adviser spoke about the highlights that ESOF has to offer. ‘We have the world’s top scientists confirmed for the ESOF event in July. Notable keynotes include Craig Venter, Jean-Jacques Dordain of ESA, Marcus du Sautoy, Bob Geldof Commissioner Geoghegan Quinn, freshly minted Nobel prise winner Jules Hoffmann and Rolf Dieter Heuer of CERN. Also our very own Dara O’Briain will be significantly involved in a variety of ways at ESOF. I would like to thank Dara for all his time on this project and his future involvement.’

Prof. Cunningham continued: ‘2012 is the year where science becomes fun, exciting and entertaining for all and to show the world that Ireland is serious about science’.

Dublin City of Science Ambassadors: Dublin Goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton and Aoibhinn ní Shúilleabháin at the launch of Dublin City of Science 2012.

Throughout 2012, Dublin City’s public libraries will run a co-ordinated programme of events with a scientific theme. These will run in to national programmes such as Science Week, Engineers Week, Bealtaine, Heritage Week and Children’s Book Festival. There will be a theme of science adopted in to into all relevant programmes and provide an exciting calendar of science related events, free of charge, to the general public. These programmes will run throughout Dublin City Libraries’ twenty-one branch libraries and will include talks, workshops and exhibitions catering for all ages.

The first conference hosted by the scientists will take place in early 2012. The second conference hosted by the schools and community groups will take place in Autumn. The exhibition will take place in October 2012.

The event will take place in Galway.

In July, to coincide with the conference, Rough Magic will also present a semi-staged performance of “Improbable Frequency” along with a reading of “Copenhagen” by Michael Frayn.