Irish Geological Association Lecture
Speaker: Nigel Monaghan (Retired Keeper of Natural History at NMI)
The National Museum is well known for the Dead Zoo on Merrion Street in Dublin, but this is primarily a zoology gallery and their rich geological collections are much less well known. The earliest collections are from the 1786 mineral survey of the Dublin Society, who started a museum in earnest with a major German mineral collection in 1792.
A succession of Professors managed the museum and built up the collections to the point that a full-time curator was able to open the purpose built building we know today. Beside the zoological museum, there were galleries for geology and botany lost in the 1960s-1970s. The museum became a state body in 1877, with significant funding from a rich empire and the curators shopped till they dropped. Few geologists in Ireland today will be aware of the sabre-toothed cat skeleton, the 7-metre pliosaur, 30 ichthyosaurs, or extensive mineral collections not on view. These specimens, and many more, will feature during this very special lecture.
Venue: This will be a hybrid lecture in person at the M4 Lecture Theatre, Department of
Geology, Trinity College Dublin and on Zoom
Gathering from 7pm
To Register for this lecture, in person or online, please do so HERE
Many thanks to Prof. Jerry Dickens, Prof. David Chew and staff at Geology, TCD for their work in facilitating this IGA event
Nigel Monaghan was the Geology Curator (1981-2001) and Keeper of Natural History
(2001-2022) in the National Museum of Ireland