File 11 - Outreach and Publicity

Mary Mulvihill (1959-2015) was an award-winning science journalist, broadcaster and author. Born in Dublin, Mary was awarded a degree in genetics in 1981 from Trinity College, where she was elected a Scholar in Natural Science in 1979. She obtained a master’s degree in statistics from Trinity College in 1982 and later completed a master’s in science communication from Dublin City University. A pioneer of science journalism in Ireland, she was also a passionate advocate of women in science and technology. Through her landmark publication, Ingenious Ireland (2002, 2019) she made a lasting contribution to our understanding of Ireland's scientific, ecological, and industrial heritage. Now in its second reprint, Ingenious Ireland earned Mary the Irish National Science and Technology Journalist of the Year 2002-03 award. She devised and presented several popular science series on RTE 1 and Lyric FM, and she was a longstanding contributor to the Irish Times, where she had a monthly column. As co-editor of Technology Ireland magazine, she also helped launch the careers of many young science journalists who followed her into the profession.

Mulvihill’s career in journalism followed four years as a research officer at the State agricultural research institute An Foras Talúntais, now Teagasc. She very soon found an unique way of writing and speaking that lent her work in print and in broadcast media a very particular style. Contemporary reviewers noted that she was assured and authoritative without being didactic or dogmatic. She had a learned curiosity of science that readers and listeners found inviting and engaging. Mary’s mission to highlight women’s role in science led to her joining in the formation of Women in Technology and Science (WITS) in 1990. Her particular interest in women’s historical contributions to science is reflected in her editing, on behalf of WITS, two collections of biographical essays on Irish women scientists and pioneers – Stars, Shells and Bluebells (1997) and Lab Coats and Lace (2009). In 2010 she started the science media company, ‘Ingenious Ireland’, to make more people aware of the country’s scientific heritage.

Part of this educational outreach was offering walking tours and audio guides to her native Dublin, as well as to national sites of ecological and archaeological interest. Mulvihill was also a member of the Irish Council for Bioethics, a council member of the Industrial Heritage Association of Ireland, and in 2014, she was named as one of Silicon Republic’s 100 Top Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). Mary Mulvihill died on 11th June 2015, following a short illness. In 2020, Dublin City University awarded her a posthumous honour for Outstanding Achievement in Societal Impact. She is survived by her husband Brian Dolan and her sisters Anne and Noirin Mulvihill.