Gerald Molloy
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Gerald Molloy (born at Mount Tallant House, near
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, 10 September 1834; died at
Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
, 1 October 1906) was an
Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...
priest, theologian and scientist.


Life

He was educated at
Castleknock College Castleknock College () is a voluntary Vincentian secondary school for boys, situated in the residential suburb of Castleknock, west of Dublin city centre, Ireland. Founded in 1835 by Philip Dowley, it is one of the oldest boys' schools in ...
, and subsequently went to
Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was of ...
. Here he applied himself to theology and the physical sciences. He was barely 23 when in 1857 he became professor of theology at Maynooth, and continued to hold that chair until 1874, when he accepted the professorship of natural philosophy at the
Catholic University of Ireland The Catholic University of Ireland (CUI; ) was a private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its assoc ...
. In 1883 he succeeded Dean Henry Neville of Cork as Rector of the
Catholic University of Ireland The Catholic University of Ireland (CUI; ) was a private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its assoc ...
, which office he occupied up to the day of his death. He acted on the commission on manual training in primary schools, and filled the post of assistant commissioner under the Educational Endowments Act. As early as 1880 he became a member of the Senate of the
Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was a university in Ireland that existed from 1879 to 1909. It was founded in accordance with the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the ...
, and remained so till 1882, when he was appointed to a fellowship in the same university. In 1890 he became a member of the governing board of that institution and at the time of his death was its vice-chancellor. He was also a member of the Board of Intermediate Education. As a lecturer and skilled experimentalist, Molloy was very successful in dealing with scientific subjects and rendering them intelligible and interesting. Under the auspices of the
Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) () is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economically. It was long active as a learned ...
, of whose council he was a member, he delivered a series of lectures on natural science, and in particular on
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
. On one occasion he joined issue on the subject of
lightning conductor A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it is most likely to strike the rod and be conducted ...
s with Sir
Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was an English physicist whose investigations into electromagnetic radiation contributed to the development of Radio, radio communication. He identified electromagnetic radiation indepe ...
. At the time of his death, he was representing the Catholic University at the celebration of the fourth centenary of
Aberdeen University The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Al ...
, and was one of those on whom the honorary degree of
Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double ā€œLā€ in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...
at Aberdeen was conferred a few days before.


Works

Among his works are: *"Geology and Revelation" (1870), a fuller treatment of a series of papers on
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
in its relation with
revealed religion Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and theology. Types Individual revelation Thomas A ...
, which appeared from time to time in the ''Irish Ecclesiastical Record''; *''Outlines of a course of Natural Philosophy'' (1880); *''Gleanings in Science: popular lectures on scientific subjects'' by Gerald Molloy D.D., D.Sc., London & New York, Macmillan and Co., (1888); *''Notes on Electric Lighting,'' by Gerald Molloy (M. H. Gill and Son); *''The Irish Difficulty, Shall and Will'' by Gerald Molloy (Blackie & Son), (1897). He also translated a number of passages from
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
's ''Purgatorio'', wrote of the Passion Play at Oberammergau, and was a frequent contributor to magazines.


References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **''Freeman's Journal'' (Dublin, 2 Oct. 1906); **Molloy, ''Geology and Revelation''; **____, ''Gleanings in Science''; **'' Dublin Review'' (1872) **''Irish Ecclesiastical Record'' (1866-9)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Molloy, Gerald 1834 births 1906 deaths 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Academics of St Patrick's College, Maynooth 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic theologians Irish physicists Irish theologians Catholic clergy scientists People from Harold's Cross Christian clergy from County Dublin Scientists from County Dublin People educated at Castleknock College