iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Over the past few years we have been delighted to also host the annual Science@Culture talk along with the award ceremony. Lynn Scarff of @ria.ie delivered a fascinating talk. Margaret Kelleher, Professor and Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama @ucddublin.bsky.social presented the awards. 👏🙏

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

The 10th Annual Mary Mulvihill Award did not disappoint 😀🙏. Cian Morgan of @tcddublin.bsky.social took home the top prize of €2000, with Aoibheann Kearins also of TCD and Ciaran Lynch of @ucddublin.bsky.social receiving a €500 judges' highly commended award. 🎉👏 @dias.ie #science #media

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

The day has finally arrived 😀. This evening at 6.30 pm, we will be announcing the winner of the 2026 Mary Mulvihill Award. For anyone that may be in Dublin, we have a limited number of tickets remaining. Good luck to everyone later 👏👏 @dias.ie #time 🎟️🎟️🔽🔽 www.eventbrite.ie/e/mary-mulvi...

eventbrite.ie

Mary Mulvihill Award 2026 and Science@Culture annual talk

Join us for the Mary Mulvihill Award 2026 and this year's Science@Culture talk at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies HQ Burlington Rd

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

By this time tomorrow the winner of the 2026 Mary Mulvihill Award will have been announced. Doors open at 6pm, with events getting underway at 6.30 pm. Lynn Scarff will deliver this year's Science@Culture talk. There are a handful of tickets remaining 🎟️ 🔽 🔽 www.eventbrite.ie/e/mary-mulvi...

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Ahead of this year's Mary Mulvihill Award ceremony, former winner @beyondthelab.bsky.social writes about everything he has learned on this year's theme, Time. From Rudimental calendars, through to the Romans and right up to our current understanding. www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/t... ⌛ 🕰️

siliconrepublic.com

The science of time: How horology developed through the ages

Tracking the ancient origins of time from early mankind up to our modern understanding of the concept, Eoin Murphy tells the story of how time came to be.

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Reposted by Mary Mulvihill Association

Eoin Murphy @beyondthelab.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

In an attempt to condense the Science of Time pieces I have been working on over the past few months, I have worked it into one short article. Here is everything I found out about the last 40,000 years. #science #time @siliconrepublic.bsky.social www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/t...

siliconrepublic.com

The science of time: How horology developed through the ages

Tracking the ancient origins of time from early mankind up to our modern understanding of the concept, Eoin Murphy tells the story of how time came to be.

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Everyone at the Mary Mulvihill Association is extremely excited about next weeks award ceremony. 😀 Lynn Scarff will also be delivering this year's Science@Culture talk. 👏👏 Wednesday 20th May, 18:30 pm @dias.ie. Tickets are free but limited: 🔽🔽🎟️🎟️⌛ www.eventbrite.ie/e/mary-mulvi...

eventbrite.ie

Mary Mulvihill Award 2026 and Science@Culture annual talk

Join us for the Mary Mulvihill Award 2026 and this year's Science@Culture talk at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies HQ Burlington Rd

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Lynn Scarff, Executive Director of The Royal Irish Academy will be delivering this years science@culture talk. It is sure to be a wonderful evening. Wednesday 20th May, 6:30pm @dias.ie Tickets are free but limited. See details below to book yours. 🎟️🎟️ www.eventbrite.ie/e/mary-mulvi...

eventbrite.ie

Mary Mulvihill Award 2026 and Science@Culture annual talk

Join us for the Mary Mulvihill Award 2026 and this year's Science@Culture talk at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies HQ Burlington Rd

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Tickets are now available for the 2026 Mary Mulvihill Award and science @culture talk. This year's event will be taking place on Wednesday 20th May @dias.ie. Doors open from 6pm with the event getting underway at 6.30pm. Tickets are free but limited. See link 🔽 www.eventbrite.ie/e/mary-mulvi...

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Everyone @rememberingmary.bsky.social has been absolutely blown away by the number of entries to this years award and the fact they came from 9 different colleges. Its now over to the judges. Who will be the winner of the 2026 Mary Mulvihill Award?? #Time #media #student

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The ongoing debate has already led to a number of countries around the world removing daylight savings time. As we get closer and closer to the closing date for this year’s Mary Mulvihill Award, could the link between Daylight Savings Time and health provide the inspiration for an entry? 🧵6/6

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Although it is only a shift of one hour, the long-term disruption to someone’s circadian rhythm, can have a huge impact on their health. Some medical professions are particularly concerned about people living with heart disease and those who already suffer from chronic sleep deprivation. 🧵5/6

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

While the clocks continue to go back and forth each year, there is a debate raging behind the scenes. Those for keeping DST argue it improves road safety and also promotes more active lifestyle. 🧵4/6

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The main intention at this time was to preserve energy during the war period. Although this is commonly listed as the first use of Daylight Savings Time (DST), areas across Canada had begun introducing the system as far back as 1908. 🧵3/6

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

The origin is in fact very simple; by pushing the hour forward people could make more use of sunlight in Spring, Summer and Autumn. The idea, however, would not come into popular use until during World War I, when Germany and Austria put forward their clocks by one hour on the 1st May 1916.🧵2/6

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

For those of you feeling the effects of that all important one hour of sleep we lost over the weekend, did you ever wonder why we have daylight savings time?🧵1/6 @atu-ie.bsky.social @mtu.ie

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

If anything in this post has piqued your interest and you are a student on the island of Ireland, why not consider entering this year's #MaryMulvihillAward? You could win €2000💶. Closing date is Tuesday 7th April at 12.25am. Full details below: marymulvihillaward.ie/award/ #science

marymulvihillaward.ie

Award – Mary Mulvihill Award

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

For now, we will continue to check our watches, set the alarm clock and time the oven, but it may be that someday physicists could develop a theory which no longer uses time. At least time as we know it. 🧵38/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Out of this space emerged Loop Quantum Gravity. In this theory space and time is made up of small loops. One of the most striking aspects of this theory is that time plays no role in it. Subsequent efforts in this field have also developed approaches in which time plays no part. 🧵37/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

In their quest to produce a theory for quantum gravity, scientists have developed other theories. One such concept developed in 1968 was called String theory. However in the 1980s and 1990s many physicists became frustrated as it was limited by a lack of a clear experimental pathway. 🧵36/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Unable to disprove Einstein’s theory, some have even questioned whether time is real or an illusion? Part of the reason behind exploring this possibility is linked to physicists failure to satisfy both general relativity and quantum mechanics in one theory. 🧵35/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

There are real-life examples of time travel already happening. For instance, astronauts based on the International Space Station are constantly moving faster in orbit than when on Earth, they return slightly younger than if they had stayed on Earth. 🧵34/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Because relativity states that time was not a constant and could speed up or slow down depending on the external circumstances, we now had a solid base on which to develop theories around time travel. 🧵33/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Although it may not match exactly with how time travel is conducted in science fiction movies and fictional literature, serious scientists have given it consideration. 🧵32/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

One concept which relativity has transformed is that of time travel. Prior to Einstein’s work the idea was always seen as something which could only exist in an imaginary world. But there was now a theoretical basis for it built around the new laws of physics. 🧵31/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

However, as we have been unable to merge the rules of quantum mechanics with general relativity, it is thought that we may one day be able to advance Einstein’s theory even further. 🧵30/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

To date there is no evidence suggesting that Einstein’s work will be disproven. In fact quite the opposite has happened over the past century, as the theory of general relativity has been rigorously tested. 🧵29/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

The applications which came from it have allowed for the development of GPS technology, planning the flightpaths of spacecrafts and a whole range of areas within astrophysics research. 🧵28/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

As most scientists had accepted Newton's laws of gravity and absolute time for centuries, not everyone was willing to discard this means of thinking and switch to Einstein’s Theory. But despite the challenges put to the Theory of Relativity, it has yet to fail. 🧵27/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

In the theory of general relativity, Einstein would show that in addition to space and time not being fixed, the geometry of spacetime was not fixed either. 🧵26/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

In his theory of special relativity, he had proved that space and time were not fixed but were in fact part of the same thing, spacetime. The space-time continuum bringing together the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a four dimensional continuum. 🧵25/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

It would take 10 more years before Einstein could solve the problems which existed within his theory of special relativity. Then in November 1915, across four different dates, Einstein submitted four weekly communications to the Prussian Academy of Science. 🧵24/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

The theory of special relativity also resulted in the most famous equation ever written E= mc^2. But Einstein knew that this formula didn’t tell the full story, as it only applied to a world moving with constant speed and didn’t take into account gravity. 🧵23/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

By showing that the speed of light was in fact a constant, special relativity explained how the universe looks to two different observers. The closer you get to travelling at the speed of light, the more time slows down and the shorter an object becomes. 🧵22/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

In this ground-breaking piece of work, Einstein challenged the traditional view that time was absolute, and that no matter where you were or what you were doing in the universe time passes at the same rate. 🧵21/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

The third paper introduced the Theory of Special Relativity. The theory was built on two postulates: 1) The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference. 2) The speed of light in a vacuum is constant and independent of the motion of the source or observer. 🧵20/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

The series of papers as a whole and the content within would become the foundation of modern physics. They transformed how the world viewed and understood the science of space, time, mass and energy. 🧵19/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Newton’s theory of absolute time would become the basis of physics for the next two centuries. That is until Albert Einstein changed everything. In 1905 he published four paper in The Annals of Physics. 🧵18/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Newton distinguished absolute time from relative time. The latter can be used to describe our perception of time in examples such as hours and days, and how the perception of each can vary from person to person. 🧵17/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

He thought of absolute time as something which passes regardless of what is happening in the world. This was in contrast with the previously held view of time, which believed that time could not pass without change occurring somewhere. 🧵16/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Within the book, Newton put forward three laws of motion, which he used to explain the relationship between a physical object and the forces acting upon it. To provide the mathematical foundation for these laws, Newton developed his theory of absolute time. 🧵15/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Galileo had found a way to accurately measure time and use it in advancing our knowledge of the physical world, Newton would change how we defined time. In 1687, Newton published his ground-breaking body of work, Mathematical Principals of Natural Philosophy. 🧵14/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Galileo’s remarkable experiments had shown that the belief held since Aristotle, that heavier objects fall faster that lighter ones, was not the case. Galileo had kick-started the era of experimental physics. It would soon be Isaac Newton’s turn to advance our understanding of time. 🧵13/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Using a water clock to measure the time it took for the ball to roll down a known inclined distance, he found his hypothesis to be true allowing the law of falling bodies formula to be derived, d∝t^2. 🧵12/38

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Mary Mulvihill Association @rememberingmary.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Galileo worked off the assumption that a bronze ball rolling down a ramp would speed up in the same way as a free falling ball would. 🧵11/38

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