2004 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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Royal Dublin Society
Charles Mollan
Ireland solves the female problem

Professor Adrian Phillips 1936�2003

The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) was inaugurated in York in 1831, and met in Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh in the next three years. It came to Dublin in 1835. However, there was an increasing problem: too many women. First, there was the problem of the delicate sensibilities of the weaker sex. Their presence necessarily 'limited the range of subjects, and greatly checked discussion'. They couldn't, for example, be exposed to a discussion of the promiscuous mating behaviour of primates: unsuitable and, worse, it might give them ideas. An even larger difficulty was that 'many persons applied for admission with no other view than to obtain a cheap week's amusement for the females of the family', and women had a tendency to eat 'more in refreshments than the price of their ticket would have purchased'. This caused 'troubles and ill-wind' in the 'scramble for ladies' tickets'.

With brilliant Irish flair, the local organisers solved the numbers problem, at the same time minimising the exposure of vulnerable Irish women to unsuitable topics. Any female travelling from abroad could attend, but the Irish philosopher had to pay �2 for a female ticket for his wife or daughter; for both, he had to find �10. Immediately, the surfeit of women was removed, and the Association's coffers enriched. Brilliant, eh?

It was at the Belfast Meeting in 1874 that the Irish published a Guide to Belfast and the Adjacent Counties. This started a fashion, which continued for many years. Books were published for the meetings in Dublin in 1878, 1908 and 1957, and in Belfast in 1902, 1952 and 1987. Unfortunately this initiative has not been a feature of recent BAAS meetings.

As its contribution to the welcome return of the BAAS to Dublin in September 2005 (at which women and men will be treated equally), the Royal Dublin Society decided it would revive this tradition by publishing a book, Science and Ireland � Value for Society, to mark the visit. A team of distinguished contributors has been recruited.

The Society is most grateful to the family of Dr Arthur Hughes, former Managing Director of Guinness, and RDS Committee Member, for presenting a fund to the Society in his memory, the first charge on which will be this publication. The sad news is that the well known TCD geologist, Professor Adrian Phillips, husband of Arthur Hughes' daughter, Rosamond, who was to have been a contributor, died in November 2003. The volume will be dedicated to Arthur Hughes and Adrian Phillips.

Contact: Dr Ciaran Byrne, Development Executive, Science & Industry, Royal Dublin Society,
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Tel: (01) 240 7217; E-mail: [email protected]