We catch up with Chief of Staff, Sean O'Callaghan who talks about science week and how the previous work of scientists and thinkers underpins society today and in the future.
Recently in Ireland
it was science week, with a whole host of events happening nation wide all week
long with some events happening just before and after the week. One such event
was The Web Summit, which is a national and international technology conference.
And this got me thinking;
Computers,
microchips and the now more relevant nanochips, really are marvels of modern
society. Considering the vast and far reaching technologies that we have
developed in our so far short stint as a species, computers are relative new
comers to the party. In ways you could argue that they are a technology that
are, at best, decades old with an approximate 70 years of history starting
somewhere around the time of Alan Turing's 'Turing Machine' to the more recent
development of the first microprocessor. But this isn't necessarily true. In a
time when we find ourselves addicted to the fast paced lifestyles of
social media in an age where we are truly children of the electron with
attention spans that struggle to surpass 140 characters, we must take time to
appreciate the science of old, which we depend upon for the science of the new.
While
the Web Summit may have been graced with the long-legged beauty that is Eva
Longoria, it's time to delve into the past and appreciate the sexy
mathematician and logistician called George Boole.
George
Boole was Irishman who came from humble beginnings. His father repaired shoes,
but always valued and pursued science and education, something which he
instilled in his son. George Boole went on to become a professor of mathematics
in University College Cork in 1849, which was know as Queen's College Cork at
the time. He did this, despite holding no university degree or any great formal
education in maths. He had the virtue of being simply gifted.
It
all arose when he was just 18 years of age and wrote his first great work
called 'The Laws of Thought' which
was an effort to explain the process of human thought in precise mathematical
terms. Over the years his work culminated in the production of his paper 'On a
General Method of Analysis' was published in 1844 in the Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society and won him the society’s gold medal.
But
great, what does all this mean and why should you care when you're just trying
to tweet at a celebrity?
Because,
his work on linear algebra and his development of symbolic logic was just the
language that electronic engineers were looking for when the digital age was
ushered in. It allowed for the formation of open and closed gated systems to be
expressed in simple terms knows as ones's and zero's.
The
point being made here is that so much of what we use today and will depend on
tomorrow can so often come from the great minds of men and women in places
distant from our own. But their work lives on for the greater good. George
Boole never saw the full potential of his work, he did not gain the monetary
value which he could today. However, the moral is that we must strive always
for the love of what it is we are good at; only then can our passions lead to
greatness and be shared by publicly as they are enjoyed privately.
About the London International Youth Science Forum
Here at the London International Youth Science Forum, the world's brightest young scientists and engineers gather to discuss and debate topical scientific issues, work with world renowned scientists, and visit some of the world's leading scientific institutions to collaborate and explore ideas. If you are interested in finding out more about the forum, click here.
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