Science More Popular Than Whiskey

A new science museum in Dublin is pulling in five times the amount of visitors it was expecting and has rocketed into the top 10 attractions list.

More than half a million people have visited the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin in its first two years in operation.

That's more than visited the famous Jameson Whiskey distillery, or Farmleigh House in the Phoenix Park.

The Gallery, which opened in February 2008, has received several national and international awards including a Special Commendation for innovation in the museum sector at the European Museum of the Year Awards 2010.

Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin paid tribute to the Science Gallery this week at the launch of its Annual Review

"While many of our great museums rightly safeguard our cultural past for our citizens international visitors, Science Gallery is unique in that it safeguards our future," she said, "It does this by nurturing and inspiring the young creative, flexible thinkers who can move seamlessly between science and art, between technology and business who will be the lifeblood of Ireland's development as an innovation economy."

Director of the Science Gallery Michael John Gorman said its success went beyond the numbers of visitors.

"Science Gallery is ultimately about the stories of the people who have been inspired by their experiences of the Science Gallery," he said, "The stories range from the student who came to work in the Gallery during the Infectious exhibition in 2009 and was inspired to study for a PhD in immunology, to the connections made in Science Gallery that allowed Irish entrepreneur Brian Fallon gather a team of artists and engineers to bring about the transformation of Liberty Hall to a giant interactive screen in the Playhouse Project."

Dublin has been named European City of Science for 2012, and the Gallery says it intends to play a central role in bringing science to the people during that year.

The success of the Science Gallery could inspire others to open in other cities around the world.

"Beyond Ireland, there is currently significant international interest in the model of Science Gallery as a new, dynamic interface between the university and the city," said Michael John Gorman, "Dublin has the distinction of having created the world's first Science Gallery, but I would hope to see at least twenty Science Galleries around the globe by 2020.