- IE IJA ADMN/7/204
- Person
- 19 September 1884-01 August 1969
Born: 19 September 1884, The Square, Listowel, County Kerry
Entered: 12 November 1901, St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, County Offaly
Ordained: 18 December 1955, Blackrock College CSSp, Blackrock, County Dublin
Died: 01 August 1969, St Michael’s Nursing Home, Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin
Left Society of Jesus: 02 May 1914
Known when Jesuit as Alfred J Rahilly.
Father was Clerk at the Petty Sessions to three districts, flour agent, Insurance and Emigration Agent, and died February 1899.
Mother then lived at Ballybunion, County Kerry. Had four brothers and ten sisters (1 brother and sister deceased)
Educated at local Convent and St Michael’s College, Listowel and then went to Blackrock College CSSp
1901-1903: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, , Novitiate
1903-1905: St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, studying
1905-1908: University College, studying
1908-1911: Stonyhurst England (ANG) studying Philosophy
1911-1913: St Ignatius, Leeson Street, teaching and research (at British Museum, London)
1913-1914: Milltown Park, studying Theology
Married Agnes in 1916 with two children. Ordained priest 18/12/1955 by Archbishop McQuaid at Blackrock College after the death of his wife and his retirement from UCC. Lived as a secular priest at Blackrock College CSSp. Created Monsignor in 1960. He was buried at Kimmage Manor in the Spiritans graveyard. In his will he left his theologial library to the Society of Jesus at Milltown Park, and his other books to Blackrock College.
O'Rahilly, Alfred
Contributed by
Murphy, John A.
O'Rahilly, Alfred (1884–1969), scholar, university president, controversialist, and priest, was born 19 September 1884 in Listowel, Co. Kerry, eighth child of Thomas Francis Rahilly and Julia Mary Rahilly (née Curry); he changed his name to ‘O'Rahilly’ by deed poll in 1920. His fourteen siblings included Celtic scholars Thomas Francis (qv) and Cecile (qv), and a first cousin was The O'Rahilly (qv), killed during the 1916 rising. Educated at St Michael's College, Listowel, Blackrock College, and UCD, he underwent a long period (1901–14) of training as a member of the Society of Jesus, but eventually left during the final stages of preparation for the priesthood, because of temperamental unsuitability. Appointed an assistant lecturer in mathematics and mathematical physics at UCC in October 1914, he became the dominant figure in the institution within six years. He became professor of mathematical physics on 1 June 1917 and registrar on 11 February 1920, and vacated these offices when he became president (1943–54).
His early career in UCC was set against the background of the revolutionary period, and he became predominantly identified, within and without the college, with the rise of post-1916 Sinn Féin. In UCC he led the nationalist interest that ousted the perceived pro-British old regime, personified by Sir Bertram Windle (qv), who resigned from the presidency in 1919. O'Rahilly was flamboyant, extrovert, disputatious and dynamic. During the low-key, unassertive presidency (1919–43) of P. J. Merriman, O'Rahilly as registrar was heir-presumptive and acted as de facto president. All in all, the whirlwind age of O'Rahilly lasted for almost four decades.
He was a volatile and bristling polymath of inexhaustible energy: the vast range of his scholarly interests – politics, sociology, finance, Christology, mathematical physics, history – aroused astonishment and envy. One critique of his work on Money ended with the reflection that the book would enable people to relieve rural tedium by laughing the winter nights away. His contemplated multi-volume life of Christ prompted a National University colleague to observe (not very originally) that a life of O'Rahilly by Christ would be much more interesting. O'Rahilly, who was vain but not stuffy, was not offended by such descriptions of him as ‘a cross between Thomas Aquinas and Jimmy O'Dea’ (qv), but was not pleased by the jibe that he had the best mind of the twelfth century, since he considered himself a very modern man indeed. But he would not have taken exception to the waggish description of the Holy Shroud of Turin (the subject of his province-wide lectures) as ‘Alfie's flying carpet’.
There were some negative and even frivolous aspects of his UCC presidency. He had a strong appetite for the hurly-burly of academic politics and, it was said, entered no controversy that he did not aggravate. He had the reputation of being a bully and exploiter in his dealings with junior academic staff; but he could be kind, helpful, and extraordinarily generous to staff and students with problems. His zeal for vigorously promoting a Roman catholic ethos in a nominally pluralist institution was frequently paternalistic and extended to acts of petty supervision, particularly perhaps over women students. This was the kind of atmosphere that prompted a visiting examiner to describe the UCC of the 1940s as ‘a convent run by a mad reverend mother’.
All this being said, O'Rahilly was one of the most vibrant and effective presidents in the history of the National University. His initiatives included extensive improvements in the library, of which he was director, and the institution of student health and restaurant services. He founded the electrical engineering department and the Cork University Press, which he believed would provide a publication outlet for the researches of his colleagues, particularly those concerned with native learning. He strengthened UCC's links with the city and the province, and these were significantly expressed through the provision of adult education courses, an area where O'Rahilly was particularly innovative and pioneering.
As a young academic, he had become caught up in the struggle for independence. He served on Cork corporation in the heroic age of Tomás Mac Curtáin (qv) and Terence MacSwiney (qv), and spent a patriotic period in jail and on the run. He represented Cork borough (1923–4) in Dáil Éireann for Cumann na nGaedheal but resigned his seat in 1924. He was a constitutional adviser to the Irish delegation at the treaty negotiations in 1921, argued publicly for the acceptance of the treaty, and helped to draft the constitution of the Irish Free State. His links with the local labour and trade-union movement were long and close, and at national level he served as Irish government chief representative in successive sessions of the International Labour Conference in Geneva. He was also a member of government commissions on banking and vocational organisation. After retirement he went to reside at Blackrock College, where he was ordained a priest (18 December 1955), and became a domestic prelate (monsignor) in 1960. O'Rahilly died 2 August 1969. He married (4 September 1916) his first cousin, Agnes O'Donoghue (d. 14 September 1953); they had two children, Ronan and Sybil.
No other layman of his day so self-confidently assumed a central role in so many areas of catholic life – philosophy, sociology, theology, scriptural studies. The controversies in which be became involved were a source of interest and pride to UCC students. Their president was a pugnacious polemicist (who jousted with such eminences as H. G. Wells and Bernard Shaw (qv)), a man of stature, and a formidable catholic intellectual. And who could not be impressed, as well as entertained, by his exuberant claim: ‘I have not now the smallest doubt that I have Einstein refuted’?
Sources
J. Anthony Gaughan, Alfred O'Rahilly (4 vols, 1986–93); John A. Murphy, The College: a history of Queen's/ University College Cork 1845–1995 (1995)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_O%27Rahilly
Alfred O'Rahilly
Alfred O'Rahilly, KSG (1 October 1884 – 1 August 1969) was an academic with controversial views on both electromagnetism and religion. He briefly served in politics, as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork City, and was later the president of University College Cork. He also became a priest following the death of his wife.
Education and academia
Born (with the last name Rahilly) in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland to Thomas Francis Rahilly of Ballylongford, County Kerry and Julia Mary Rahilly (née Curry) of Glin, County Limerick. He was first educated at St Michael's College, Listowel[1] and at Blackrock College in Dublin. O'Rahilly first earned University College Cork degrees in mathematical physics (BA 1907, MA 1908).
The O'Rahilly Building (left) houses UCC’s Humanities Faculty.
He studied scholastic philosophy at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire following his master's degree, then returned to UCC for a BSc (1912). In 1914, he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at UCC, and then in 1917 he was made Professor of Mathematical Physics.
In 1919 he received a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He became Registrar of UCC in 1920, and held the post until 1943 when he became President of the University. O'Rahilly founded Cork University Press in 1925. He spent a year, in 1927, at Harvard studying social and political theory.
In 1938, he published a controversial book surveying electromagnetic theory called Electromagnetics (Longman, Green and Company), republished in 1956 by Dover as Electromagnetic theory, a critical examination of fundamentals.
In 1939, UCC conferred on him the degree D.Litt., and in 1940 the National University of Ireland awarded him a DSc.
The O'Rahilly Building was one of the major developments on the UCC campus in the 1990s and was named in honour of O'Rahilly.[2]
Politics and public life
After the 1916 Easter Rising, O'Rahilly publicly supported Sinn Féin and was elected to Cork City Council as a Sinn Féin and Transport Workers candidate. Arrested early in 1921 for political writings, O'Rahilly was interned in Spike Island prison.
Released in October 1921 he was constitutional adviser to the Irish Treaty Delegation. O'Rahilly supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and in 1922 he composed a draft constitution for the Irish Free State with Darrell Figgis.
O'Rahilly led Irish delegations to the International Labour Organization conferences in 1924, 1925 and 1932, and took on a conciliatory role in trade union and employers disputes in Munster. As President of University College Cork, he initiated workers' education courses in the university in the late 1940s which proved popular with Cork trade unionists.[citation needed]
Standing as a candidate in Cork Borough for Cumann na nGaedheal, he was elected to the 4th Dáil at the 1923 general election.[3] He resigned in 1924,[4] causing a by-election later that year which was won by the Cumann na nGaedheal candidate Michael Egan.
Religion
A deeply religious Catholic from early life, O'Rahilly was a member of the Society of Jesus but left before ordination and was dispensed from his vows. He maintained his (sometimes controversial) religious views throughout his life, and became a priest, and then Monsignor, in later years following the death of his wife. He wrote a biography of Willie Doyle. He also contributed to The Irish Catholic weekly newspaper.
In 1954, Pope Pius XII conferred on him the Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great.
He was also an advisor on university education to the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid and sat on an informal committee from 1950. The committee included O'Rahilly, and the other presidents of the National University of Ireland; Michael Tierney of UCD, Monsignor Pádraig de Brún, Cardinal D'Alton, and Bishops Cornelius Lucey of Cork and Michael Browne of Galway.
Science
In O'Rahilly's major survey of electromagnetic theory, Electromagnetics (1938),[5] he opposed Maxwell's dominant (British) theory of the electromagnetic field and followed the French Catholic physicist, historian of science, and philosopher of science Pierre Duhem in rejecting Maxwell's field account.[6] As a logical consequence of his rejection of Maxwell, O'Rahilly also rejected Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. O'Rahilly embraced Ritz's ballistic theory of light and Ritz's electrodynamics.[7] While Ritz's theory reduces to Coulomb's Law and Ampere's Law, since its derivation is phenomenological, it differs from the Liénard–Wiechert potential. O'Rahilly also wrote against applying the theory of evolution to human society.
Because O'Rahilly thought Cork lacked a social science curriculum he volunteered to teach courses in economics and sociology. When told that they could not spare him from the physics courses, he volunteered to teach an economics course and sociology course along with his physics courses.
Family
His brother T. F. O'Rahilly was a Celtic languages scholar and academic, noted for his contribution to the fields of historical linguistics and Irish dialects.[8] His sister Cecile O'Rahilly was also a Celtic scholar, and published editions of both recensions of the Táin Bó Cúailnge and worked with her brother in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[9]
His first cousin The O'Rahilly was one of the founding members of the Irish Volunteers and died in the Easter Rising.[10]
Writings
O'Rahilly's writings include: Father William Doyle, S.J. (1920, 4th ed. 1930), Flour, Wheat and Tariffs (1928), Money (1941), Jewish Burial: The Burial of Christ (1941), Religion and Science (1948), Aquinas versus Marx (1948), Moral Principles (1948), Social Principles (1948), The Family at Bethany (1949), Moral and Social Principles (1955), Gospel Meditations (1958) and Electromagnetic Theory (2 vols, 1965).
Father William Doyle S.J. (1922)
Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (1938)
References
J. Anthony Gaughan, Alfred O'Rahilly Biography (Kingdom Books, 1986) (ISBN 0-9506015-6-X)
"O' Rahilly Building Extension and Quadrangle". University College Cork. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
"Alfred O'Rahilly". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
"Alfred O'Rahilly". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
Worldcat entry for "Electromagnetic theory, a critical examination of fundamentals" - First edition published in 1938 under title: "Electromagnetics"
See Pierre Duhem: Against "Cartesian Method": Metaphysics and Models from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for why Duhem rejected Maxwell's theory.
For a short description of O'Rahilly's criticism of the special theory of relativity, see this section of Challenging Modern Physics by Al Kelly
Murphy, John A. "O'Rahilly, Alfred". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
Ní Mhunghaile, Lesa. "O'Rahilly (Ní Rathaille, Ó Rathaille), Cecile (Sisile)". Dictionary of Irish Biography. (ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Breathnach, Diarmuid; Ní Mhurchú, Máire. "Ó RATHGHAILLE, Micheál Seosamh (1875–1916)". Ainm. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
https://www.ucc.ie/en/heritage/history/people/ucc-presidents/president-alfred-orahilly/
Alfred O'Rahilly
Alfred O’Rahilly MA DPhil DSc KSG, President, University College Cork, 1943-54
Alfred O’Rahilly, was born in September 1884[1] in Listowel, Co. Kerry, the son of Thomas F. Rahilly, clerk of petty sessions, and his wife Julia M. Curry. He changed his surname by deed poll in 1920 to ‘O’Rahilly’.[2] He was educated at St Michael’s College, Listowel, and at Blackrock College, Dublin.[3] O’Rahilly was awarded a BA (1907), MA in Mathematical and Experimental Physics (1908) by the Royal University of Ireland. He then entered Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, England, where he is an resident at the time of the 1911 census. At Stonyhurst, he studied at St Mary’s Hall, where he attended a three-year course in scholastic philosophy in the Jesuit novitiate for which he was awarded the papal degree of DPhil.[4] O’Rahilly then gained a BSc (1912) at University College, Dublin. In 1914 he was appointed assistant lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics at UCC, and made full Professor of Mathematical Physics in June 1917. He became Registrar of the college in February 1920, and held the post until 1943 when he became President. He spent a year, in 1927, at Harvard University studying social and political theory. On his return, he persuaded the Governing Body to establish a lectureship in sociology, which he took on without salary.[5] The National University of Ireland conferred on him the honorary degree DLitt in 1939 and, in the following year, his work on Electromagnetics obtained for him the degree DSc.
After the 1916 Easter Rising, O’Rahilly publicly supported Sinn Féin and was elected to Cork City Council as a Sinn Féin and Transport Workers candidate. Arrested early in 1921 for his political writings, O’Rahilly was interned in Spike Island prison in Cork harbour. Released in October 1921 he was constitutional adviser to the Irish Treaty Delegation. O’Rahilly supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty and in 1922 he composed a draft constitution for the Irish Free State. O’Rahilly led Irish delegations to the International Labour Organization conferences in 1924, 1925 and 1932, and took on conciliatory role in trade union and employers disputes in Munster. Standing as a candidate in Cork Borough for Cumann na nGaedheal, he was elected to the 4th Dail at the 1923 general election but did not go for re-election in 1924.[6] As representative of the Irish Government, he attended the Sixteenth Session of the International Labour Conference at Geneva in 1932.[7] He was a member of the Banking Commission and, from 1923, Chairman of the Cork Arbitration Board, where he was prominent in the settlement of industrial disputes. In this latter role he was active in securing compensation for the loss of employment suffered by the workers of the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company, for which work some of the tramway men of the city presented him with 'The Tramway Cup' in 1933.
O’Rahilly had a dominant personality and was a prolific scholar, polymath, controversialist and public figure. His UCC initiatives included improvements in his role as Director of the Library, the institution of student health and restaurant services, and the acquisition of the extensive former County Gaol site which made significant building expansion possible. Other innovations included the foundation of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Cork University Press in 1925 (which he handed over to the College in 1928)[8] and UCC’s second in-house magazine, Cork University Record, in 1944. O’Rahilly strengthened College links with the city and the province, particularly in adult education courses. He instituted a diploma in Social Science, the first diplomate was Seán Casey who was later a TD for Cork city and Lord Mayor.[9] He published prolifically, often on issues relating to religion and politics.
Alfred O’Rahilly married Agnes O’Donoghue on 4 September 1916 at Rathmines, Dublin. They had two children. She died on 14 September 1953.[10] He retired from the presidency of UCC in October 1954 and moved to Blackrock College (Holy Ghost Fathers), Dublin, where he was ordained as a member of the order on 18 December 1955, aged 71. He remained at Blackrock, becoming a monsignor in 1960. O’Rahilly died at St Michael’s nursing home, Dún Laoghaire, on 2 August 1969. He is buried in the community cemetery in the grounds of Kimmage Manor, headquarters of the Holy Ghost Fathers.[11] O’Rahilly left his theological library to the Jesuits at Milltown Park; in 2019 the Milltown Park library was transferred to Dublin City University;[12] his other books were given to Blackrock College.
In 1998 the new Business and Languages building, named the Alfred O’Rahilly Building, was opened by Micheál Martin, Minister for Education (a UCC graduate).[13] O’Rahilly’s tenure as Director of the Library is remembered in the relief created by Séamus Murphy RHA that is on display in the Boole Library.