Laser show tribute to North Mon innovator

THE skies over Cork will be lit up by a spectacular laser show this week to honour the father of vocational education in Ireland.

The event to honour Brother James Burke, which takes place as part of the North Monastery 200 celebrations, will be a modern re-enactment of a stunning 1877 light show which he created to demonstrate the potential of electricity.

Br Burke, who taught the inventor of the modern submarine, connected a battery of 120 callan cells to a massive lamp he mounted to the front wall of the monastery, and then flashed beams of light into the sky, stunning the city’s occupants.