IN 1779, the German poet Goethe visited the Staubbach Falls near the Jungfrau Massif in deep Switzerland. He was inspired to pen a verse about the scene; it went as follows:
The human soul resembles water,
from heaven it comes, to heaven it goes,
and again to the Earth, eternally recycled.
Goethe's metaphysical analogy was the "hydrological cycle", the term we now use for the way in which a more or less constant amount of water circulates between land and sea and air, making it possible for Earth to sustain a great variety of different lifeforms.
Perhaps, somewhere in the lost childhood of Jim Dooge was a personal equivalent of Goethe's Staubbach Falls. If such there was, a colossal cascade indeed it must have been; it inspired in him, not just a single verse, but a whole body of scientific literature, a lifetime's work in the science of hydrology.
Prof Dooge, of course, hardly needs introduction. Those unfamiliar with his domestic achievements in his chosen science, or unaware of his global impact as President of the International Council of Scientific Unions, will surely at least re member his alter ego when he was a successful Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Tonight you can hear him speak in person. He will deliver an Irish Meteorological Society lecture entitled "Concepts of the Hydrological Cycle: Ancient and Modern" at the Earlsfort Terrace premises of UCD at 8 p.m.
Jim Dooge's own summary is perhaps the best introduction to his talk: "The linkage of water and civilisation throughout the ages," he says, "has resulted in a long history of concepts of the hydrological cycle, comprising evaporation, precipitation, percolation and streamflow.
"For over 2,000 years, the dominant theory was that water from the sea found its way into the interior of mountains, was lifted by some mechanism within the mountains, and emerged again as springs to feed the streamflow, which in turn returned the water to the sea.
"The modern approach, based on the premise that rainfall was more than adequate to produce streamflow, only became gradually strengthened from the end of the 17th century onwards, and was only universally accepted in the present century. Most of those involved in the story are better known for other activities, and include Plato, William Caxton, Leonardo da Vinci, Edmond Halley and John Dalton."
Why not go along and hear the fascinating story from its beginnings to its latest chapters? As is usual on Irish Meteorological Society occasions, all those who wish to do so are more than welcome to attend, gratis.