THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY IS IRELAND'S LEADING BODY OF EXPERTS IN THE SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

The Royal Irish Academy/Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann champions research. We identify and recognise Ireland’s world class researchers. We support scholarship and promote awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives and benefit society. We believe that good research needs to be promoted, sustained and communicated. The Academy is run by a Council of its members. Membership is by election and considered the highest academic honour in Ireland.

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Dictionary of Irish Biography

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Favourite DIB lives: Virgilius Maro Grammaticus

Monday, 6 April 2020

Selected by Dr Anthony Harvey of the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources (DMLCS), Virgilius Maro Grammaticus was an enigmatic author and a gifted coiner of new Latin words. His biography is part of a series...

Dictionary of Irish Biography

Favourite DIB lives: John Philip Holland, submarine inventor

Monday, 6 April 2020

Selected by the DIB's Dr Niav Gallagher, John Philip Holland was the inventor of the submarine, a vessel initially rejected by the US navy as ‘a fantastic scheme of a civilian landsman’. Holland's biography is part of a...

Dictionary of Irish Biography

Favourite DIB lives: Dr Noel Browne, politician and physician

Sunday, 5 April 2020

Selected by friend of the DIB, historian Dr Niamh Puirséil, Dr Noel Browne is celebrated for his efforts to combat TB and to deliver free healthcare to mothers and children during his time as minister for health (1948–...

Dictionary of Irish Biography

Favourite DIB lives: John Atherton, woeful sinner

Friday, 3 April 2020

Selected by RIA historian Dr John Gibney (Documents on Irish Foreign Policy), John Atherton was an infamous seventeenth-century cleric. Atherton's biography is part of a series of DIB entries selected for your reading...

Dictionary of Irish Biography

The DIB and the first Seanad election

Thursday, 2 April 2020

The last RIA Library blog post by Siobhán Fitzpatrick, who retires this week, was on The First Seanad Éireann. To complement it we are publishing below the DIB entry on Jennie Wyse Power (1858–1941), nationalist and...

Dictionary of Irish Biography

Favourite DIB lives: Mike Butt, restaurateur

Wednesday, 1 April 2020

Selected by RIA historian Dr Michael Kennedy (Documents on Irish Foreign Policy), Mahmood 'Mike' Butt is best known as the man who introduced Ireland to curry. Butt's biography is the first in a new series of DIB...

Dictionary of Irish Biography

Discover our eBook collection

Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Did you know that many of our books are available in digital format? Here’s the list.

Publications, 1916 Portraits and Lives, Judging Shaw, Art and Architecture of Ireland, Dictionary of Irish Biography, Decade of Centenaries, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy

Saint Patrick in the DIB

Tuesday, 17 March 2020

To celebrate St Patrick's day, we publish the DIB entry on Ireland's patron saint, by Cormac Bourke.

Dictionary of Irish Biography, Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources

Seachtain na Gaeilge: Ernie O'Malley

Friday, 13 March 2020

I gcomhar le Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU agus Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge, tá beathaisnéis Ernie O'Malley aistrithe mar chomóradh ar Sheachtain na Gaeilge 2020. 

Dictionary of Irish Biography, Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge

Seachtain na Gaeilge: Maud Gonne MacBride

Wednesday, 11 March 2020

I gcomhar le Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU agus Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge, tá beathaisnéis Maud Gonne MacBride aistrithe mar chomóradh ar Sheachtain na Gaeilge 2020. 

Dictionary of Irish Biography, Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge

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