Matthew McMahon

Armagh Planetarium and Observatory

Research Background

My background is in history, having completed my BA at Ulster University with a dissertation on Irish newspaper reporting on the 1961 Congo Crisis. I then completed my MA in Museum and Heritage Studies (part-time) with a dissertation on the collections and education strategies of reenactors on the Island of Ireland. I have been working in the Museum Sector since 2017, following on from my time volunteering at the Tower Museum in Derry/Londonderry. Since 2023 I have served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern Ireland Museums Council as a representative of the Independent Museums. I continue to have an interest in the development of museum collections and exhibitions on the history of science, and on the culture of museums in Northern Ireland.

Research

Armagh Planetarium and Observatory

Theatres of the Cosmos - Planetarium History Research

My PhD research, funded by the Northern Bridge Consortium, is a Collaborative Doctoral Award between Armagh Observatory and Planetarium and Queen’s University Belfast. My subject is the geographies of the Armagh Planetarium, as a site of performance of science, and spectacle. In particular, I am focused on the period between 1937 and 1995, which contains both the planetarium as a built environment, but also the thirty one years it spent as an imagined space. I use archival resources, as well as a oral history, to build our understanding of the human networks that were essential to the project. How does a planetarium acquire cultural capital? How does it acquire the authority to speak on scientific matters? How do the technical capabilities of the planetarium impact the performances, and why does it matter? How does a planetarium operate in a divided society? These are some of the essential questions I will be answering in my research.

Armagh Planetarium and Observatory

Brass and Glass - Astronomical Heritage Research

I also continue to research the history of astronomy on the Island of Ireland, with a particular focus on the material culture of scientific instruments. I have published work on the Troughton Equatorial Telescope (1795) and am currently working on papers focused on the history of the Grubb 10-Inch refractor (1885), and the Markree Grubb (1834). I have responsibility for the maintenance of the historical collection and this includes a number of Georgian astronomical regulators, and because of this I am very interested in the human-instrument networks which dominate telescope domes.

Publications

McMahon M (2023) Herschel Family Papers held at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. Journal of the Herschel Society 22(1): 4–13.
McMahon M (2024a) Hugh Breen, Father of Astronomers. History Armagh 5(3): 38–40.
McMahon M (2024b) Photographs of the 13.3-inch Object Glass by Cauchoix. Bulletin of the Society for the History of Astronomy.
McMahon M and Black A (2024) The Armagh Observatory Troughton Equatorial Telescope (1795) Network. Scientific Instrument Society Bulletin (160): 27–40.
McMahon M and Nežič R (2024) Archival research in a planetarium: The first projector at Armagh Planetarium. Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal (34): 37–43.
McMahon M, Bailey M and Seagar J (2024) William John Roberts (1867–1942) Science communicator, astronomer, and engineer. The Antiquarian Astronomer (18): 94–100.

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