Aurora Trip Membership DVD Shop European City of Science Lecture The Big Bang and Birr Telescope This public lecture is to celebrate Dublin being the European City of Science in 2012. Dr Cormac O'Raifeartaigh will describe the construction of the world’s largest telescope at Birr Castle in Ireland by William Parsons, the Third Earl of Rosse, in the 1840s. The importance of the astronomy at Birr Castle in the development of the Big Bang model of the universe will also be discussed. The Leviathan of Parsonstown is the unofficial name of the Rosse six foot telescope at Birr Castle. This is a historic reflecting telescope of 72 in (1.8 m) aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the 100 in (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope in 1917. Using this telescope - the Hubble Space Telescope of its day - the latest scientific theories of the Universe were forged that ultimately led to the Big Bang theory of the Universe, which will be explained in this talk. Dr O'Raifeartaigh teaches physics at the Waterford Institute Technology. He is a well-known science speaker in Ireland, and runs a blog called Antimatter. He has given many extremely popular talks and has a gift for communicating very complex ideas to an everyday audience. Some of Dr O'Raifeartaigh's has given very well received talks about the Big Bang, cosmology, and the Universe in the past and they are available on DVD here, and we had him interviewed on Irish radio stations; search for his name in audio archive here. We believe Dr O'Raifeartaigh is a brilliant public speaker and an ideal choice to deliver this special public lecture celebrating Dublin being the European City of Science in 2012. Please bring family and friends as they will all enjoy it immensely! The Big Bang and Birr Telescope will take place in Trinity College Dublin on Monday, July 2nd, at 8pm. Order tickets and DVDs HERE Astronomy Ireland The world's most popular Astronomy Club www.astronomy.ie ( subscribe / unsubscribe )