Clodagh Finn: Ethna Gaffney was an academic trailblazer who introduced first dietetics course

After getting her doctorate in biochemistry, Ethna Gaffney was hired to launch a pioneering Diploma in Dietetics in the College of Science, Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin. She is seen here with her first students. Picture: courtesy of Phyllis Gaffney 

In 2017, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland commissioned artist Vera Klute to paint a portrait of Ethna Gaffney, its first female professor. It’s a beautiful study of a woman who found herself in that position because of unimaginable personal tragedy.

When her husband Jim Gaffney was killed in the first Aer Lingus plane to crash, in Snowdonia, Wales, in January 1952, Ethna went back to work. The previous October, the couple had lost their eldest son Patrick, 3, in a drowning accident, and Ethna was now widowed and pregnant again.