The Irish Met Society's Celebration of Met Éireann's 75th Anniversary

Evening Lectures and Weather Exhibition

 National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9

The above photos (from left to right) are the copyright of The Irish Times, Valentia Observatory and Séan McCarthy respectively.

To mark the 75th anniversary of Met Éireann, the Irish Met Society is organising an evening of short talks which will take place on November 10th in the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin. The Society has also created an exhibition which will run from November 10th to 18th in the National Botanic Gardens' gallery. Admittance is free. Further details are given below.

Lecture Evening (7pm November 10th):

NB: The lecture evening is currently booked out. Places may become available through cancellations. E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to join the reserve list.

Lecture 1: "A Brief History of Valentia Observatory" by Keith Lambkin, Meteorologist, Valentia Observatory

Lecture 2: "Establishment of the Meteorological Service in Ireland – the Foynes years, 1936-1945" by Tom Keane (retired Head of Research, Met Éireann).

Lecture 3: "The History of Numerical Weather Prediction in Met Éireann" by Prof. Peter Lynch, Director of the Meteorology and Climate Centre, UCD

Lecture 4: "The History of Weather Forecasting in Ireland" by Gerald Fleming, Head of Forecasting, Met Éireann.

For speaker biographies and lecture overviews click here.

Weather Exhibition (November 10th-18th, 9am-4.30pm)

The exhibition will contain a series of posters on Met Éireann's history, including an historical timeline and a poster on Met Éireann trivia, a collection of old photographs and winning IMS images from the past few years, old instruments, weather experiments and a chance to view ICHEC's 3-D weather set-up. The exhibition will be staffed at all times and will contain the following sections:

1. Irish Met Society photography section.

2. Historical timeline: 1851-2011.

3. Phenology.

4. Weather on RTÉ, Met Éireann trivia and RTÉ photos.

5. Posters on measuring the weather.

6. Valentia Observatory - history and science

7. Hidden treasures in Met Éireann's old manuscripts

8. Collection of old photographs

9. Selection of posters on the climate of Ireland

10. Research posters

11. Met Éireann memories - the public can pin their favourite Met Éireann memories to a board.

12. Educational section, weather experiments, quiz for children.

13. Glass Cases - Old instruments and other artefacts.

A few points to note:

•  ICHEC's 3D weather set-up will only be available on Saturday November 12th.
• Groups attending the exhibition should notify IMS at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it in advance.
• Groups of school-goes must be accompanied by a teacher.

The Irish Met Society would like to dedicate the lecture evening and weather exhibition to Dr Aodhagán Roddy who sadly passed away recently. Aodhagán was a founder member of IMS and was its President for 7 years. He was also involved in organising this event prior to his unexpected death.

IMS is extremely grateful to the National Botanic Gardens for agreeing to provide their facilities and to the Meteorologist and CLME branches of the Impact Union for sponsoring the refreshment interval.