Fr. James Robert C. McConnell (born

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

25 February 1915; died 13 February 1999) was an Irish Catholic priest and theoretical physicist. McConnell entered

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

(UCD) in 1932 and graduated in 1936 with a first-class honours master's degree in mathematics. After leaving UCD, McConnell began his study for the priesthood, entering

Clonliffe College Holy Cross College (also known as Clonliffe College), located in Clonliffe Road, Drumcondra was founded in 1854 as the Catholic diocesan seminary for Dublin by Cardinal Paul Cullen. History The College was founded in 1859 by the then Archbish ...

. He moved to Rome after a year and earned a B.D., B.C.L., and S.T.L. and was ordained in 1939. He was made a Doctor of Mathematical Sciences by the Royal University of Rome (

La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

) in 1941.Mgr James Robert McConnell
Irish Times, 9 April 1999. McConnell was appointed a scholar in the newly founded

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...

in 1942. He was appointed Professor of Mathematical Physics in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, having been awarded a D.Sc. from the National University of Ireland for his research there in 1949. He is best known for research on

Rotational Brownian motion Rotational Brownian motion is the random change in the orientation of a polar molecule due to collisions with other molecules. It is an important element of theories of dielectric materials. The polarization of a dielectric material is a competi ...

, the electric and magnetic properties of matter and the theory of the negative proton (or anti-proton). McConnell was dean of the Faculty of Science, of Maynooth, from 1957 to 1968, and registrar of the college from 1966 to 1968. McConnell was the 1986 recipient of the RDS Irish Times Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence.Boyle Medal Laureates
Royal Dublin Society He was appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1990, and honoured with the title of Monsignor by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

References

Scientists from Dublin (city) 1915 births 1999 deaths Irish physicists Irish mathematicians 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Catholic clergy scientists 20th-century Irish scientists Alumni of Clonliffe College Alumni of University College Dublin Sapienza University of Rome alumni Alumni of the National University of Ireland Academics of St Patrick's College, Maynooth {{Ireland-scientist-stub

Further reading

References