THE White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation, published earlier this week, is a well-produced document which takes a user-friendly approach to the issue. It also contains several interesting facts about well-known Irish inventors.

One who caught the Margin's attention was Nicholas Callan (1799-1864) who invented the induction coil, the forerunner of the transformers which distribute electricity.

Callan, it appears was a real fun guy to be around. An Irish priest, he worked in St Patrick's College, Maynooth and used his fellow seminarians "to check the intensity of his electricity", according to the report. One of his most famous voltmeters was William Walsh, who later became Archbishop of Dublin.

The unfortunate young Walsh was once rendered unconscious by Callan, but fortunately he survived. Apparently, Callan was a bit of a jolly japer and sometimes arranged tugs-of-war between his electromagnets and his students.