February 2008 'Flann O'Brien and the Science of The Third Policeman' Show at NUI Galway

On Wednesday, 20 February, the Environmental Change Institute at NUI Galway will host an exciting two-man show 'Foresight or Frivolity? Flann O'Brien and the Science of The Third Policeman'. In this free, public event, DCU's Professor Dermot Diamond and performer Fergus Cronin, will take a number of excerpts from The Third Policeman, and illustrate the links between the writings and the science that influences Flann O'Brien's writing.

In his writings, and particularly in The Third Policeman, Flann O'Brien took scientific principles, extrapolated them to fantastic proportions, and set the outcomes in a bizarre context that is at once both logical and illogical. Written in 1940, but not published until after the author's death in 1967, the story follows the trail of a murderer-on-the-run through an Irish countryside that is not as we know it. In this setting, the narrator is continually challenged by scientific processes that we normally take for granted such as the relationship between light and time, the Conservation of Energy, and perhaps most famously, the Molecule Theory.

Dr. Dónal Leech, of NUI Galway's School of Chemistry and Environmental Change Institute, says, "Look forward to an amusing and thrilling exploration of the fantastic scientific principles and applications devised by the comic genius of Flann O'Brien. His hilarious description of how molecular theory contributes to the production of part-Garda, part-bicycle (and vice-versa), and other amazing, though increasingly realistic visions of science (such as the production of needle-points so sharp to be invisible to the naked eye, now commonplace in nanoscience and technology), will be on show at this spectacle."

The event is certain to be as entertaining as it is informative, having delighted audiences at the 2005 Kilkenny Arts Festival. It is free and is open to all, and will begin at 8pm in the Orbsen Building's Seminar Room, with light refreshments from 7.30pm. For more information contact: sarah.knight@nuigalway.ie.

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