ABSTRACT
Johnstone Stoney was born on 15 February 1826 at Oakley Park, Clareen, near Birr in King’s County (now Offaly). The Stoneys, a long-established Anglo-Irish family, lost their property during the famine years and moved to Dublin to allow the children to pursue professional careers. George Johnstone graduated in 1848 from Trinity College, excelling in mathematics and physics, before spending two and a half years as astronomical assistant to Lord Rosse at Parsonstown (Birr Castle) Observatory. While there he studied for the highly competitive Trinity College Fellowship, which would have opened up a scientific and academic career for him in Dublin but, in the contest of 1852, he only attained second place, winning the Madden prize. Through the influence of William Parsons, Lord Rosse, he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at Queen’s College Galway, where he remained for five years until he became Secretary to the Queen’s University, based in Dublin Castle. Stoney retained this post until the Queen’s University was dissolved in 1882 and replaced by the Royal University, which was a purely examining body and the predecessor of the National University of Ireland, and the Queen’s University of Belfast.
