The National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) is located on the banks of the river Corrib close to Galway City centre, Ireland. Originally called Queen’s College Galway it was known as University College Galway from 1908 to 1997. It has as its motto, Deo Favente

NUIG is located on an extensive campus, central to which is the oldest building, The Quadrangle (The Quad). In 2017 it was ranked 249^th in the World University Rankings. The University caters for over 17,000 students in its five constituent colleges (Arts, Law and Business, Engineering, Medicine, Science).

Queens College Galway (now National University of Ireland Galway), with an enrolment of 63 students (all male), opened its doors for the first time in the year 1849 On This Day.

Photo by Phalinn Ooi

NUIG

Photo by Phalinn Ooi

Gottfried Leibniz was a mathematician and philosopher who was a native of Germany. He made important contributions in several areas including; mathematics, philosophy, engineering, physics and law. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential thinkers in the history of mathematics and other disciplines. He was also the inventor of a mechanical calculator.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was born in Leipzig on July 1^st 1646. He developed differential calculus using the ‘d’ notation, which is still widely used today. His discovery of calculus, which was published in 1684, was done independently of Isaac Newton. Leibniz published his work on integral calculus in 1686 using the familiar ∫ notation (long s). He also perfected the binary system of arithmetic. Today, almost all digital computers are based on the binary system.

Gottfried Leibniz, mathematician and philosopher, made the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus in the year 1686 On This Day.

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Pope John XXIII was elected to the Papacy in 1958. He was the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. At the time of his election he was widely regarded as a transitional pope. However less than three months after the start of his Papacy he announced the Second Vatican Council. The announcement ushered in a new era for the Roman Catholic Church. He became one of the most popular popes of all time.

Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli in Sotto il Monte, Bergamo, Italy on November 25th 1881. He was ordained a priest in 1904. He served in several different roles, including as papal delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. He also served as papal nuncio in France. In 1953 he was raised to the rank of Cardinal and appointed Patriarch of Venice. He was elected to the papacy in 1958 and served as Pope for just over four years until his death on June 3^rd 1963. He was canonised by Pope Francis in 2014

Pope John XXIII, who is known as the ‘Good Pope’, was elected to the papacy in the year 1958 On This Day.

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Coronation of Pope John XXIII

Daniel Dowling, who was born in Carlow, Ireland in 1832, was one of the survivors of the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaklava in 1854. He enlisted in the British Army in January 1854 and became one of the cavalrymen of the Light Brigade. Shortly thereafter England, France and Turkey formed an alliance to drive Russia out of the Baltic and Crimea. During the Battle of Balaklava a mix-up in orders resulted in about 670 members of the Light Brigade riding directly into the Russian guns, in what Tennyson in his poem called ‘the valley of Death’.

Having survived the Crimean War, Daniel Dowling later served with the British Army in Africa, India and Australia. He resigned from the British Army in 1865 and moved to America. He died on July 15th 1913 at the age of 81 in Utica, New York. A copy of the poem, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ was found among his possessions.

The Charge of the Light Brigade took place in the year 1854 On This Day

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