Portlaoise College 6th year students went to the official launch of the exhibition on the life and career of Jan Łukasiewicz, the noted Polish logician hosted by the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin this week.
This wonderful exhibition presented by the Polish Embassy in Dublin explores the fascinating life and achievements of one of the brightest minds in European science of the 20th century.
This exhibition memorialises the life and legacy of Professor Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish genius of logic, philosopher, a post-war refugee in Ireland and one of a very select few to ever hold a professorial position at the Royal Irish Academy.
He is widely considered to be one of the 20th century’s leading figures of European science in the field of logic whose research paved the way for computer science and information technology development.
Portlaoise College students had a remarkable opportunity to learn about Lukasiewicz’s life and career not only from a variety of photographs, manuscripts and rarely seen documents drawn from various archives both in Ireland and Poland, but also from listening and talking to the people involved in preparing the exhibition – Dr Eoin Kinsella – leading expert in that field, who passionately presented the facts about Lukasiewicz’s life in a very interesting way, Barbara McCormack from the RAI Library, who patiently answered all curious questions about voluminous and old books, photos, manuscripts and maps which students could observe on the RIA Library shelves and stands displayed.
Ms Anna Sochanska – the Polish Ambassador to Ireland explained all the input and importance of the Irish Government in Lukasiewicz’s career and how the support was important for Poland and the Polish Intelectual/Cultural Community due to the communist system in Poland after WWII Lukasiewicz couldn’t come back home.
Surprisingly for the students, one of the speakers was TD Éamon Ó Cuív, whose granddad Eamon de Valera helped Lukasiewicz and his wife to come to Ireland in February 1946.
During the exhibition Portlaoise College students were able to talk to Mr O Cuiv about his grandad and it was an overwhelming experience for all of them listening about historical people, whom they can read about in their history books at school.
Meeting with all the experts and amazing speakers was a remarkable event for all students, who shared their thoughts after the exhibition.
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