Belfast

Belfast is Northern Ireland’s capital and largest city. By the 1800s, Belfast had become a major port and the city played a key role in the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century as the biggest liner producer in the world. Belfast was also known for its tobacco-processing, rope-making, and shipbuilding industries. It was the birthplace of the RMS Titanic, built by Harland and Wolff, the biggest shipyard.

Parent Map

The British Empire and Its Development (and Fall)

Coordinates

Latitude: 54.597285000000
Longitude: -5.930120000000

View on the COVE Master Map

Timeline of Events Associated with Belfast

Date Event Manage
19 Aug 1874

Tyndall's Belfast Address

Portrait of TyndallJohn Tyndall delivers the British Association for the Advancement of Science presidential address.

The British Association for the Advancement of Science met in 1874 in Belfast. It proved to be a momentous occasion.  John Tyndall, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution, delivered the presidential address on the evening of August 19th.  Tyndall’s topic was the relationship of science, past and present, to philosophical materialism.  The address ignited a storm of controversy that surrounded Tyndall for the rest of his life, and it changed the way modern science came to be perceived by the British public.

Articles

Bernard Lightman, "On Tyndall’s Belfast Address, 1874"