Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1994 - 1998 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
2 folders : 86 photographs, 10 contact prints, 8 negatives
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
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.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A collection of (mostly colour) photographs and contact prints featuring various book launches, AGMs and seminars.
Includes: a monochrome image of Niamh Breathneach (Minister for Education) and Clare O’Connor (Chairperson of WITS) at the launch of a booklet entitled Suitable jobs for a woman in 1994. Colour photographs of the 1995 WITS AGM, monochrome and colour contact prints of the launch of WITS publication Stars, Shells and Bluebells in 1997. The Minister for Education and Science, Michael Martin is featured attending the event.
Two colour photographs showing members of WITS at the WITEC (European network of organisations and individuals working for the support of women working in science, engineering and technology) conference in Amsterdam in October 1998. Also, colour photographs of the WITS AGM in Dublin in November 1998.