This article, through a case study of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), traces the reception, experimentation with, and uses of radium in early twentieth-century Ireland. Throughout the nineteenth century there was increasing state intervention in the provision of scientific and technical education in Ireland. This culminated in the loss of the RDS's traditional role in this area. The article demonstrates that the RDS was forced to re-envisage its role as a scientific institution by actively seeking to support experimental research. Using radium as a case study, the article argues for the success of this tactic. It demonstrates that radium played a central role within the RDS as a nexus for the maintenance of an experimental and philanthropic culture that permeated much of the society's scientific output in this period. In doing this it highlights the importance of sociability in the promotion of science in Ireland in the early twentieth century. In addition, it explores the role of the RDS as an arbiter of scientific authority.

中文翻译：

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20 世纪爱尔兰的社交性、镭和科学文化和权威的维护：皇家都柏林学会的案例研究

本文通过对都柏林皇家学会 (RDS) 的案例研究，追溯了 20 世纪早期爱尔兰对镭的接收、实验和使用。在整个 19 世纪，爱尔兰越来越多地干预提供科学和技术教育。这最终导致 RDS 在该领域的传统角色的丧失。文章表明，RDS 被迫通过积极寻求支持实验研究来重新设想其作为科学机构的作用。文章以镭为案例研究，论证了这种策略的成功。它表明镭在 RDS 中发挥了核心作用，作为维持实验和慈善文化的纽带，这种文化在这一时期渗透到了社会的大部分科学成果中。在此过程中，它强调了社交性在 20 世纪早期爱尔兰在促进科学方面的重要性。此外，它还探讨了 RDS 作为科学权威仲裁者的作用。