Coin marks Ireland’s only Nobel Laureate for science

A €15 silver-proof coin commemorating the great Irish scientist, Ernest Walton, has been announced by the Central Bank.

The bank will present one of the first to the winner of a special prize at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

Mr Walton is Ireland’s only Nobel Laureate for science, an accolade given for his work, with co-recipient John Cockcroft, on splitting an atom for the first time.

The coin will go on sale on January 14th, as a limited edition of 6,000. The bank will give one to the winner of its Central Bank of Ireland Ernest Walton Award for a physics project at the exhibition. The winner is announced on Friday.

The design on the coin by Rory Breslin gives an artist’s impression and explanation to the equation E=mc2.