In 1932, at the Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge, two physicists were busy building the first linear accelerator that 
would accelerate protons to energies of 700,000 electron Volts. They built an apparatus to bombard the element lithium and the protons were energetic enough to shatter the lithium to produce helium nuclei.
What these two scientists had achieved was not only the conversion of one element into another by artificial means but also they were able to verify Einstein’s famous equation E=mc².
This achievement was one of the greatest in physics and one of the scientists responsible was Irish-born Ernest Walton.
For his work, Walton received a scientific Nobel prize for Physics – along with John Cockcroft – in 1951. Walton remains the only Irish-born scientist to receive a scientific Nobel Prize.
Born in Dungarvan, Co.Waterford, in 1903, Walton entered Trinity College Dublin in 1922 on a scholarship to read maths and experimental science. After graduating with first class honours, he started work on his Masters, which he received in 1927. In the same year he received a research scholarship and went to Cambridge University to work in the Cavendish Laboratory.
He continued researching at Cambridge until 1934 and received his Ph.D. there. He returned to Trinity College and was appointed Erasmus Smith’s Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in 1946 and elected Senior Fellow in 1960. He died in 1995.
Science Foundation Ireland has named the E.T.S. Walton Visitor Awards in honour of Walton. These awards have been developed to attract researchers to Ireland.
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Read about Walton on NobelPrix
