The  Book of Abstracts for the Tyndall Conference is now available. It can be downloaded as a PDF below.

Tyndall Conference 2011 – Book of Abstracts

The programme of speakers is also available:

Tyndall Conference 2011 – Programme

And the list of posters can be downloaded below:

Tyndall Conference 2011 – Posters

Speaker: Prof. Richard Somerville, University of California, U.S.A.

Date: Tuesday 27th September 2011

Location: The Mansion House, Dublin

The Environmental Protection Agency hosted a public lecture in advance of the 2011 Tyndall Conference on Tuesday, 27th September 2011, featuring Professor Richard Somerville on ‘Tyndall: His Work and Scientific Heritage’

Prof. Somerville is an expert meteorologist whose research interests include geophysical fluid dynamics, thermal convection, computational methods, predictability, atmospheric modeling, numerical weather prediction, radiative transfer, cloud physics and climate.

He has also written on the communication of environment issues, including Climate Change. His book “The Forgiving Air – Understanding Environmental Change” is widely regarded as a benchmark for clear and accessible communication of complex environmental issues.

It is notable, therefore, that Prof. Somerville has also developed a great appreciation of the work of John Tyndall, himself a charismatic and popular advocate of the communication of science. Prof. Somerville will deliver a lecture detailing the tremendous debt modern society owes to Tyndall’s pioneering work in many of the physical sciences, but most notably Climate Science.

This lecture was given as part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Tyndall’s ground breaking work on greenhouse gases, and in advance of the three day Tyndall conference  held in Dublin Castle.

This lecture was recorded and will be uploaded to YouTube and the EPA website shortly.

John Tyndall is an overlooked genius from Ireland whose work revolutionised science and created entirely new experimental techniques and scientific disciplines.   His work on infra-red  spectroscopy served to form the basis of our  understanding of the Earth’s climate system and  current awareness of the threats of global warming and climate change.   In this, he is ranked with  the greatest physicists of  19th and 20th century – “Fourier, Tyndall, Arrhenius, Kirchoff, Planck and Einstein”, (Ray Pierrehumbert, Physics Today, Jan 2011). In the 150 years since the publication of Tyndall’s seminal work, the sciences of atmospheric radiative transfer and climate have developed and deepened our understanding of the world we live in and our impact upon it.

This conference will celebrate Tyndall’s achievements and  examine developments in key  areas of climate science, current scientific issues and their  implications. It will also celebrate the increasing recognition of Tyndall’s work and reputation.

Scientific Advisory Committee

J. R. Bates (RIA) (Chair)

F. McGovern (EPA) (Vice-chair)

K. Shine (University of Reading)

R. Somerville (University of California, USA)

J.-P. van Ypersele (Université Catholique de Louvain, IPCC)

Scientific Advisory Comittee and Tyndall’s Apparatus

L-R: K Shine, R Somerville, J.R. Bates, F McGovern, J.-P. van Ypersele

Sponsors:

In addition to the Royal Irish Academy and the Environmental Protection Agency we would like to acknowledge the following sponsors:

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[1] “On the Absorption and Radiation of Heat by Gases and Vapours, and on the Physical Connexion of Radiation, Absorption, and Conduction – The Bakerian Lecture” (Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond.,  February 1861, 151, 1-36, and Phil. Mag. S. 4, September 1861, 22, 169-194 and 273-285). (Click to read the original paper)