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.
Read more about the RIAThe Dictionary of Irish Biography is Ireland’s national biographical dictionary. Devised, researched, written and edited under the auspices of the Royal Irish Academy, its online edition covers nearly 11,000 lives.
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In the context of COVID-19, which serves as a potent reminder of our susceptibility to infectious disease, this three-part DIB series looks at successful attempts to combat such disease in the past. We consider research into and treatment of yellow fever, the role of improved sanitation in limiting the spread of disease and the development of ‘public health’ in Ireland.
In the final article of our three-part series on public health and infectious disease, we look at the development of ‘public health’ in Ireland, considering key figures in the area of tuberculosis eradication: Kathleen Lynn (1874–1955) and Pearl Dunlevy (1909–2002).
In the second of our three-part series on public health and infectious disease, we consider life-saving developments in sanitation in Dublin through the biographies of Parke Neville (1812–86), civil engineer, architect and surveyor and medical officer Sir Charles Cameron (1830–1921).
In the first of a three-part series on public health and infectious disease, we introduce the biographies of doctor John Crawford (1746–1813) and bacteriologist Adrian Stokes (1887–1927), key figures in understanding the transmission of, and developing early treatment for, yellow fever.
Please write to the Managing Editor, Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, Ireland, or email dib@ria.ie