| 2002 |
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YEAR BOOK |
Editorial
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Swan song
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Why the change? I am a great believer in the positive advantages of new blood. A much younger Editor and, even better, a woman, will breath new life and vigour into the project, and I very much look forward to its future (especially as Geraldine will be doing all the work!). As for me, this will be the second time I have retired, and I still have a few years to go before 'normal retirement age'. Once again, I don't intend to stop work � I'll just be working on other things which I have wanted to do, but haven't had the time.
One of my major interests is in the history of Irish science. While the period to which I pay most attention is the Nineteenth Century, one of the aims of The Irish Scientist has been to provide future historians with a view of the development of Irish science as it passed from the Twentieth to the Twenty-first Century. And what a decade the last one has proved to be!
Ten years ago there was really no forum in which scientists could tell the world outside their speciality what they were doing. It could, and did, happen that, in a third level college, people working in one lab (sometimes even in the same department) didn't know what their colleagues were doing, much less having an awareness of what was happening in other Irish colleges. The Irish Scientist has gone some way to improving the situation: but it has not been a complete success. In addition to providing general information about initiatives and developments in the island's scientific progress, my ambition was to try to get every research active department or function in third level colleges, semi-state bodies, government laboratories and industry to take at least some space in each issue, so that the Year Book could be a reasonably comprehensive view of Irish research and development in the relevant year.
In spite of the fact that the page numbers have increased from the 33 of the first issue in 1994 to an average of 256 over the last three years, there are gaps in the coverage. There are still scientists who do not appreciate the difference between publication and publicity. My view is that, in the modern world, if you don't publicise what you are doing, you will be ignored. The dramatic increase in funding for Irish science in recent years has been significantly due to the fact that scientists have woken up to this fact. In his message to the 2001 Year Book, Minister Noel Treacy was kind enough to say:
The Irish Scientist Year Book has contributed in no small way to this increased awareness. Its articles capture the excitement, variety and public relevance of the scientific research carried out in Ireland.
I knew there was good science going on in all parts of Ireland, but I have been enormously impressed with what I have discovered during the last ten years. And it seems certain that the next ten will be even more impressive. I shall read future issues of The Irish Scientist with great interest.
Thus my last message to Ireland's scientists is � make sure you publicise your activities: publication in specialist journals may be essential to establish your scientific reputation in your area of expertise, but it is also very important that the centuries-long tradition of Irish ability in science and technology should at last receive a wider notice. Don't overlook the fact that the web version of The Irish Scientist is being visited more and more. At the time of writing (August) it had received an average of 10,000 'page hits' per month in the previous six months. The breakdown of the hits which were analysed geographically is interesting, with around 45% from America and 45% from Europe (the latter including about 15% from Ireland).
Thus, the obvious place to publicise your work is, of course, in The Irish Scientist Year Book!
| So long, folks, and many thanks for all your support and encouragement over the years. |
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Geraldine Van Esbeck holds Bachelor of Law and Barrister-at-Law degrees. She has spent the last ten years working as a Corporate Public Relations Consultant, where she was responsible for advising a diverse range of clients on internal and external communications, public awareness campaigns and the publication of relevant research projects. She also brings to her new role extensive printing, proof reading and script writing experience gained over a decade spent overseeing the production of internal and external publications, the generation of specialist and general press and educational material, and the compilation of annual reports. |
Contact: Geraldine Van Esbeck,
Oldbury Publishing, 55 Kimmage Road West, Dublin 12;
Tel: (01) 465 2310; Fax: 465 2311;
E-mail: [email protected] (ISDN line)