Remember work of Irish physicist

With world attention focused on CERN and the detection of the Higgs boson, the contribution of Ireland’s Nobel physicist Ernest Walton, who was born in Waterford, should be noted.

While working in Cambridge, Walton, along with his co-worker John Cockcroft, built the first particle accelerator to split the atom in 1932, earning them the 1951 Nobel prize for physics.

His table top accelerator verified Einstein’s famous equation relating mass and energy, E=mc², and paved the way for later developments in fundamental physics, ultimately leading to the world’s largest accelerator at CERN.

Given the exceptional public interest in this area of science, and to mark the 80th anniversary of his achievement, the Institute of Physics in Ireland has gathered almost 3,000 signatures calling on Dublin City Council to name the new Liffey bridge for Walton.

Dr Sheila Gilheany

Policy Advisor Institute of Physics in Ireland

UCD

Dublin 4