John O’Donoghue
@drjohnodonoghue.bsky.social
Chemistry Educator, Researcher & Author at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) | RSC Education Coordinator | New book out now: Onscreen Chemistry https://books.rsc.org/books/monograph/2272/Onscreen-ChemistryThe-Portrayal-of-Chemical | Views my own
Good article from Richie Kirwan about the Joe Wicks health/protein bar documentary which had plenty of ridiculous dark lab imagery & scaremongering. I also witnessed someone tell a stranger on the #London tube this week that they should check the ingredients of a bar they were eating #SciComm #Food
October 9, 2025 at 9:07 AM
We presented two posters, one about the public engagement aspect of our hugely successful @researchireland.ie Discover project (Current Chemistry Investigators) and the other about our training programme for our PhD’s at Trinity #Vicephec25 #SciComm #ChemEd #ChemEPE #ChemSky
August 31, 2025 at 8:37 AM
We presented two posters, one about the public engagement aspect of our hugely successful @researchireland.ie Discover project (Current Chemistry Investigators) and the other about our training programme for our PhD’s at Trinity #Vicephec25 #SciComm #ChemEd #ChemEPE #ChemSky
After presenting the feedback from our project at the Variety in Chem Ed & Physics HigherEd conference in Liverpool this week, we’ve collected a LOT more at @dublinmaker.bsky.social! Our research ambassadors are engaging with hundreds, while I cut up fliers #DublinMaker #VicePhec25 #ChemEd #SciComm
August 31, 2025 at 8:32 AM
After presenting the feedback from our project at the Variety in Chem Ed & Physics HigherEd conference in Liverpool this week, we’ve collected a LOT more at @dublinmaker.bsky.social! Our research ambassadors are engaging with hundreds, while I cut up fliers #DublinMaker #VicePhec25 #ChemEd #SciComm
This is one of the origins of the term “green room”. It may also be due to the huge popularity of green wallpaper & paint in the early 19th century following Carl Wilhelm Scheele's invention of copper arsenite green in 1775, which was removed a century later due to toxicity! #History #stage
August 26, 2025 at 7:50 PM
A lens was used to concentrate the light from the flame into a beam to illuminate the performers. This is the origin of the phrase “in the limelight”. The resulting intense light had a slight green hue, and it is claimed that a room painted green would allow the actors to adjust their eyes #theatre
August 26, 2025 at 7:50 PM
A lens was used to concentrate the light from the flame into a beam to illuminate the performers. This is the origin of the phrase “in the limelight”. The resulting intense light had a slight green hue, and it is claimed that a room painted green would allow the actors to adjust their eyes #theatre
His limelight consisted of a cylinder of calcium oxide onto which an oxyhydrogen flame was directed. Calcium oxide is obtained by calcining calcium carbonate from seashells or limestone and is better known as “lime” - commonly used in agriculture for increasing soil pH #Science #ScienceSky
August 26, 2025 at 7:50 PM
His limelight consisted of a cylinder of calcium oxide onto which an oxyhydrogen flame was directed. Calcium oxide is obtained by calcining calcium carbonate from seashells or limestone and is better known as “lime” - commonly used in agriculture for increasing soil pH #Science #ScienceSky
I was just reminded of an interesting “chemistry from theatre” nugget. Before electric lighting, candles were the only way to light up theatres and stage shows. Then, in 1816, Thomas Drummond invented the “limelight”, which he originally designed for lighthouses #Chemistry #Thread #ChemSky
August 26, 2025 at 7:50 PM
I was just reminded of an interesting “chemistry from theatre” nugget. Before electric lighting, candles were the only way to light up theatres and stage shows. Then, in 1816, Thomas Drummond invented the “limelight”, which he originally designed for lighthouses #Chemistry #Thread #ChemSky
This time last week we had a great time in @rsc.org Burlington House #London for my book launch. Thanks to everyone who joined us, especially @andrestrujado.bsky.social for this absolutely fantastic silver mirror coke bottle! Onscreen Chemistry is available now in bookstores #BookLaunch #ChemSky
August 21, 2025 at 2:54 PM
This time last week we had a great time in @rsc.org Burlington House #London for my book launch. Thanks to everyone who joined us, especially @andrestrujado.bsky.social for this absolutely fantastic silver mirror coke bottle! Onscreen Chemistry is available now in bookstores #BookLaunch #ChemSky
Hello little Red-tailed BumbleBee, welcome to our garden today. On the menu you’ll find flowers from courgettes, onions, and tomato’s as well as pansies, roses and hydrangeas. I finally found some time to enjoy our garden after a busy academic year #Summer #Garden #Pollinators
July 9, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Hello little Red-tailed BumbleBee, welcome to our garden today. On the menu you’ll find flowers from courgettes, onions, and tomato’s as well as pansies, roses and hydrangeas. I finally found some time to enjoy our garden after a busy academic year #Summer #Garden #Pollinators
Still waiting for phase 2… it was supposed to start at the end of 2024. But this still only deals with the “commuter belt” so i guess we’ll have to wait for phase 3 - which of course doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, people are commuting 200km+ due to house prices www.transportforireland.ie/news/first-p...
February 22, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Still waiting for phase 2… it was supposed to start at the end of 2024. But this still only deals with the “commuter belt” so i guess we’ll have to wait for phase 3 - which of course doesn’t exist. Meanwhile, people are commuting 200km+ due to house prices www.transportforireland.ie/news/first-p...
He’s very happy with the box that the books came in… it was all worth it for this 🤣
February 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM
He’s very happy with the box that the books came in… it was all worth it for this 🤣
Now that the book is out in the wild & people have read the preface.. this is Stocaí 🤣 He kept me company through all the writing & forced me to take breaks. There are plenty of obsessive & persistent scientists in the book, maybe they just needed a cat! #ChemSky #OnscreenChemistry
February 15, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Now that the book is out in the wild & people have read the preface.. this is Stocaí 🤣 He kept me company through all the writing & forced me to take breaks. There are plenty of obsessive & persistent scientists in the book, maybe they just needed a cat! #ChemSky #OnscreenChemistry
More recently we have Shuri (Letitia Wright) in Black Panther (2018) and Wakanda Forever (2022), who carries out some chemistry research. Finally, we have Elizabeth Zott (expertly played by Brie Larson) in Lessons in Chemistry (2023), with plenty of realistic scenes in research labs.
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
More recently we have Shuri (Letitia Wright) in Black Panther (2018) and Wakanda Forever (2022), who carries out some chemistry research. Finally, we have Elizabeth Zott (expertly played by Brie Larson) in Lessons in Chemistry (2023), with plenty of realistic scenes in research labs.
We then get plenty of forensic chemists in CSI, NCIS, and Rizzoli & Isles. Also, Clara Immerwahr (2014) tells the story of Clara (Katharina Schuttler), the first German woman to be awarded a doctorate in chemistry from in Germany. It also focuses on her relationship with Fritz Haber.
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
We then get plenty of forensic chemists in CSI, NCIS, and Rizzoli & Isles. Also, Clara Immerwahr (2014) tells the story of Clara (Katharina Schuttler), the first German woman to be awarded a doctorate in chemistry from in Germany. It also focuses on her relationship with Fritz Haber.
Then we have The Saint (1997), featuring Emma (Elizabeth Shue), an electrochemist who has found the formula for cold fusion. Shue also portrays a research scientist in Hollow Man (2000). Also around this time, Laura Dern depicts the real-life chemistry teacher Freida J. Riley in October Sky (1999)
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Then we have The Saint (1997), featuring Emma (Elizabeth Shue), an electrochemist who has found the formula for cold fusion. Shue also portrays a research scientist in Hollow Man (2000). Also around this time, Laura Dern depicts the real-life chemistry teacher Freida J. Riley in October Sky (1999)
After WW2, there are only a few examples like Caprice (1967), a cosmetic chemist who runs a small lab. Later, the biopic Silkwood (1983) features Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood, a lab technician. In fiction, Lorraine Bracco plays a chemist in Medicine Man (1992), searching for the cure for cancer.
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
After WW2, there are only a few examples like Caprice (1967), a cosmetic chemist who runs a small lab. Later, the biopic Silkwood (1983) features Meryl Streep as Karen Silkwood, a lab technician. In fiction, Lorraine Bracco plays a chemist in Medicine Man (1992), searching for the cure for cancer.
Back to fiction, Strange Impersonation (1946) follows Nora (Brenda Marshall) who invents a new anaesthetic. Nora is confident in the lab with various lab glassware & proudly presents her research, but she is worried about the marriage bar – which will prevent her from continuing her career.
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Back to fiction, Strange Impersonation (1946) follows Nora (Brenda Marshall) who invents a new anaesthetic. Nora is confident in the lab with various lab glassware & proudly presents her research, but she is worried about the marriage bar – which will prevent her from continuing her career.
16 years after her death, the US biopic Madame Curie (1943) tells the story of Marie Sklodowska Curie (Greer Garson), focussing on her relationship with Pierre & her early discoveries. Her WW2 mobile radiography trucks is included in a more recent biopic, Radioactive (2018), starring Rosamund Pike
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
16 years after her death, the US biopic Madame Curie (1943) tells the story of Marie Sklodowska Curie (Greer Garson), focussing on her relationship with Pierre & her early discoveries. Her WW2 mobile radiography trucks is included in a more recent biopic, Radioactive (2018), starring Rosamund Pike
Then, long before the CSI franchise took over our screens, we have Kid Glove Killer (1942), featuring a chemistry lab assistant named Mitchell (Marsha Hunt). Although she has a master’s in chemistry & performs various forms of analysis, she claims that she actually hates chemistry!
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Then, long before the CSI franchise took over our screens, we have Kid Glove Killer (1942), featuring a chemistry lab assistant named Mitchell (Marsha Hunt). Although she has a master’s in chemistry & performs various forms of analysis, she claims that she actually hates chemistry!
First is a lab technician named Maria (Henny Porten) in the silent German melodrama Irrungen/Mistakes (1919). Then it’s The Love Test (1935), a British comedy about Mary (Judy Gunn) who is nominated to head a chemistry research laboratory trying to find a way to make cellulose nitrate film fireproof
February 11, 2025 at 9:00 PM
First is a lab technician named Maria (Henny Porten) in the silent German melodrama Irrungen/Mistakes (1919). Then it’s The Love Test (1935), a British comedy about Mary (Judy Gunn) who is nominated to head a chemistry research laboratory trying to find a way to make cellulose nitrate film fireproof
Here is the queen using her chemistry lab to make the poison!
February 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Here is the queen using her chemistry lab to make the poison!
I’m in UCD this evening to run a guest lecture/workshop with student science teachers for @roysocchem.bsky.social & I still love that they have so many EV chargers on this campus - many other universities could learn from them! #ChemSky #Edchatie #EV
January 30, 2025 at 3:39 PM
I’m in UCD this evening to run a guest lecture/workshop with student science teachers for @roysocchem.bsky.social & I still love that they have so many EV chargers on this campus - many other universities could learn from them! #ChemSky #Edchatie #EV
It’s great to have all of our @researchireland.bsky.social project team in #Dublin for a 2 day meeting & training this week! Thank you to our Sligo & Cork teams who travelled across the country to us - we managed to get our ducks in a row 😝 #Chemistry #SciComm #IrishResearch
January 17, 2025 at 12:29 AM
It’s great to have all of our @researchireland.bsky.social project team in #Dublin for a 2 day meeting & training this week! Thank you to our Sligo & Cork teams who travelled across the country to us - we managed to get our ducks in a row 😝 #Chemistry #SciComm #IrishResearch
The BT Young Scientist #BTYSTE takes place in Dublin this week where secondary school scientists show off their amazing projects! I was delighted to help 3 groups this year with their #Chemistry. Best of luck to Aoibh, Leah & Kayla from Westmeath, Grace from Kerry, and Alannah from Wicklow #ChemSky
January 10, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The BT Young Scientist #BTYSTE takes place in Dublin this week where secondary school scientists show off their amazing projects! I was delighted to help 3 groups this year with their #Chemistry. Best of luck to Aoibh, Leah & Kayla from Westmeath, Grace from Kerry, and Alannah from Wicklow #ChemSky