Name an international scientist who is also a patron saint of jugglers, and a fellow physicist who would understand the forces involved in skateboarding. Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac Newton may not have realised their tremendous influence on circus skills, according to one of the participants in this year's Galway science and technology festival.
In fact, it was thanks to Galileo's repeated experiments from the leaning tower of Pisa that we know why equilibrism and manipulation - that is, balancing and juggling - works, says science educator James Soper. The former psychology student and circus performer holds a Guinness world record for his own efforts, and demonstrated same from the tiny saddle of a very tall unicycle in Galway yesterday.
Soper was one of a plethora of participants at the one-day exhibition in Salthill's Leisureland and Galway Bay Hotel, marking the 10th anniversary of the west coast festival. Now running over a fortnight, the festival involves workshops and demonstrations in 200 schools, libraries and colleges throughout the city and county, culminating in yesterday's exhibition.
Some 20,000 free tickets were issued, with sponsorship from Galway's technology sector, several State agencies and the Forfas Discover Science and Engineering programme. Familiar visitors included the Armagh planetarium's stardome, the MadLabs electronics workshops and Rude Mechanicals, the partnership formed by two British art teachers concerned about the loss of simple practical skills.
Rude Mechanicals' mission has been to allow young people to find their inner genius - rather than relying on the instructions that inevitably come with "educational toys". Using materials such as wood, cardboard, paper, paper clips and empty film capsules, they set young charges to work making paper dragons and butterflies on wheels. Other acts in Salthill explored rocket propulsion and aerodynamics, three- dimensional visualisation and the science of rock and roll, drawing on Vivaldi, AC/DC and Stradivarius.