Science at the Worth Library

• History of Science Research Award
• Reception of Newton conference 2012
  • Programe and Registration
• Robert Boyle Archive

The Edward Worth Library has a large collection of texts on all aspects of early modern science. Worth was a fellow of the Royal Society and evidently was keenly interested in all areas of experimental science, particularly works by members of the Royal Society such as Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton. The Worth Library has held a number of conferences specifically devoted to early modern science: in December 2011 a one-day symposium on Robert Boyle was held to mark the 350th anniversary of the publication of The Sceptical Chymist and the papers, edited by Professor Michael Hunter and Dr Elizabethanne Boran, have been published in a special issue of Intellectual History Review in volume 25, Issue 1 (2015).

In July 2012 a two-day conference took place which investigated ‘The Reception of Newton’. The latter was a partner of Dublin City of Science 2012.  The papers are currently being edited for publication.

The Worth has also hosted a number of conferences related to the history of Medicine and Science in Ireland: see, for example, the ‘Science in the City‘ 2014 conference of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Network in Ireland.

In tandem with these events two online exhibitions have been curated by the Librarian, Dr Elizabethanne Boran: ”Alchemy and Chemistry at the Worth Library’ and ‘Newton at the Worth Library’. The latter was launched on 14 November 2012 to mark Dublin Science Week and Dublin City of Science 2012.

Besides Worth’s own collections the Worth Library also possesses a complete digital archive of the Robert Boyle Papers at the Royal Society. This was donated to the Worth Library by Professor Michael Hunter, the foremost expert on the life and works of Robert Boyle. Details about the archive are available here.

The Edward Worth Library is delighted to announce the creation of an annual Worth Library History of Research Award. This will be awarded during Dublin Science Week each year. The award is open to all researchers in the field of history of science (including health sciences). While primarily designed to draw attention to the wonderful resources at the Worth Library for historians of early modern science, the award is also open to scholars working on later periods.