On May 22, 2017, iCRAG seismologists Sergei Lebedev and Chris Bean welcomed two groups of secondary-school students to the home of the Geophysics Section of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies at 5 Merrion Square. The students were from Dublin’s Lycée Français d'Irlande, some of them Irish, some French, and others from other countries around the world. Brought to DIAS by their science teacher, Celine Tirel, the 13-14 year olds were keen to meet DIAS and iCRAG scientists and find out for themselves how science is done and what careers in science are like.

Each group had a busy programme. In an overview presentation by Tom Blake (DIAS), they went over seismology, earthquakes, and the history of seismology in Ireland. The scientist who coined the word “seismology” was, of course, an Irishman, Robert Mallet, and one of the kids who came to learn of seismology and careers in science on this day was a direct descendant of Mallet, which added symbolism to the occasion.

The students then looked at real seismic data and studied seismic signals from Ireland and surroundings and even from volcanoes in Iceland (presented to them by Martin Moelhoff, DIAS). And then each of the groups discussed careers in science with a few young seismologists: Clara Gomez-Garcia (iCRAG PhD student), Florian Le Pape (iCRAG postdoc), Francois Lavoue (iCRAG postdoc), and Pierre Arroucau (SFI postdoc).  In the end of their visit, the students also got a chance to meet the iCRAG Director John Walsh, at DIAS for an iCRAG meeting.

By Sergei Lebedev