Sir, – With world attention focused on CERN and the detection of the Higgs boson, the contribution of Ireland’s Nobel physicist Ernest Walton, who was born in Waterford, should be noted.
While working in Cambridge, Walton built the first particle accelerator to split the atom in 1932 along with his co-worker John Cockcroft earning them the 1951 Nobel prize for physics.
His table top accelerator verified Einstein’s famous equation relating mass and energy, E=mc2 and paved the way for later developments in fundamental physics, ultimately leading to the world’s largest accelerator at CERN. Given the exceptional public interest in this area of science and to mark the 80th anniversary of his achievement, the Institute of Physics in Ireland has gathered almost 3000 signatures calling on Dublin City Council to name the new Liffey bridge for Walton. – Yours, etc,