Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1979 - 2015 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
5 boxes : 24 folders, index cards, press cuttings, 5 books, 15 booklets, 9 pamphlets, 1 professional diary, 16 notebooks, 1 award certificate, 3 photographs, art materials and paintings, 1081pp.
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 very large file of 24 folders with diverse material covering Mulvihill’s interests in scientific education, training and research. The file covers a broad range of interests and includes: A heavily annotated book entitled, Blood & Guts, A Short History of Medicine (London, 2003), by Roy Porter, an itinerary and report from the ‘First European Feminist Conference on Reproductive Technologies and Genetic Engineering’ that was held in Spain in October 1986, the itinerary and notes from ‘Irish Origins: The Genetic History and Geography of Ireland’, a conference held in the Royal Irish Academy in December 2000. Research carried out by Mulvihill into the Vartry Reservoir and other infrastructure to supply Dublin city with water. As well as the mining industry in county Wicklow, a
press paper for the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) Festival of Science in May 2005.
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) Media and Outreach Strategies, provided by Mulvihill’s Science Media Consultancy, 1 May 2013. A Report entitled Women in Industrial Research; a wakeup call for European Industry (European Commission, 2003),
Annotated launch paper for the ‘Gender Equality Unit’ of the Department of Education and Science (4 December 2001), a strategy for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (November 2002), an invite and programme of the Science on Screen Festival, which Mulvihill helped to organise in March 1997, an annotated preparatory script for the Blood and Guts audio tour of Dublin. Handwritten research notes on Marsh’s Library, and annotated/amended Rules for the Irish Science Journalists Association (December, 1991). Minutes for the ‘RDS Advisory Committee on Science Meeting’, held on 15 June 1993, Mulvihill’s Year Planner and Professional Diary for 1997, and the initial ‘Call for Information’ for the Eureka Guide to Ireland in 1997. This project became Ingenious Ireland in 2002.
16 notebooks of research, ideas and suggestions written by Mulvihill from 1990-1999. Certificate awarded to Mulvihill (National Science and Technology Journalism Awards 2002-3). 3 large photographs, 2 of which show the Scholars' Dinner in Trinity College, Dublin in 1979. One photograph is mounted with accompanying identification. Third photograph shows a gathering of past pupils for the same occasion in 1989. Mulvihill appears in both. 4 editions of the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series, as well as art materials and paintings made by Mulvihill during personal art classes.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
National Science and Technology Journalism Awards 2002-3 Certificate is an oversized item, marked C32/3/2/1/OS/1.
Photographs of the Scholars' Dinner in Trinity College, Dublin are oversized items, marked C32/3/2/1/OS/2. Art Materials and paintings are oversized and are marked C32/3/2/1/OS/3-6. Irish Historic Towns Atlas editions are marked C32/3/2/1/OS/7.