CHAPTER 2: Bookending the Atom: Boyle and Schrödinger (Southern Ireland and Dublin)

Our travels could have started with a beach on the Aegean Sea, a facsimile of an alchemist's laboratory, or in front of a pointillist painting in the Modern Museum of Art in New York. Instead, we start in Lismore, Ireland, where Robert Boyle was born in a castle in 1627 and lived as a child. Boyle's early life is described as we visit the Robert Boyle Science Room in the Lismore Heritage Centre, Boyle Family Memorials in Youghal and Dublin, and the Long Room in the Trinity College Library in Dublin. Staying in Ireland, we follow the section on Boyle with one on Erwin Schrödinger – they are bookends in our travels with the atom adventure. An overview of Schrödinger's contributions to the development of the atom is interweaved with an account of his escape from Nazi Germany, his appointment as the first professor of theoretical physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, and his role in inspiring biophysicists and chemists to unravel the secrets of DNA. His totally unorthodox lifestyle is noted. His workplace, residence and the striking “What is Life?” statue in the National Botanic Gardens are described.