Prof Bell Burnell is the dean of science at the University of Bath and previously was head of the Department of Physics at the Open University. She discovered the first four pulsars (neutron stars that emit powerful radio waves). She used a radio telescope that she helped build as part of her PhD dissertation. Her discovery helped her supervisor, Prof Anthony Hewish, win the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics for the identification of pulsars. From Northern Ireland, Prof Bell Burnell has since worked in most branches of astronomy. She has won many international awards for her work.
Prof Carey is professor of medicine and professor of health science and technology at Harvard University Medical School in Boston. He is a doctor but also holds a degree in physical chemistry and molecular biophysics. He is also a senior physician at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital. Born in Clonmel, he graduated from UCD and also studied in London and Pittsburgh before moving to Boston. He has published extensively on the physical chemistry and pathophysiology of fats, on drug delivery systems and on the molecular genetics of gallstone genes.
Prof Briggs is professor of palaeontology at the University of Bristol. Born in Dublin and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, he completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He is an expert in understanding the evolutionary significance of exceptionally preserved fossils. He has completed significant experimental work on the factors controlling decay and fossilisation of plants and animals. He did studies of early diagenetic mineralisation, and field work on a range of extraordinary fossil occurrences around the world and is currently visiting professor at the University of Chicago.
Prof FitzGerald chairs the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is the director of the General Clinical Research Centre there and founded the University's Centre for Experimental Therapeutics. Originally from Dublin, his research interests lie in the fields of thrombosis and vascular biology. He has published important scientific papers about the role of aspirin as a cardioprotective drug and the biochemistry associated with it. His group recently identified how hormones can control circadian rhythms within the blood vessels.