Film about Newbridge-born scientist

Kathleen Lonsdale, photo by FC Livingstone; and Charlotte House, Newbridge, where she spent her early life.

A film to be screened in the Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge will highlight the life and work of scientist Dr Kathleen Lonsdale, who was born in the town, writes Brian Byrne.

The screening on Saturday 5 March of The Lonsdale Project is particularly aimed at young people aged 11 and a half upwards, and has been produced by the Super Paua artist-led collective. Dr Lonsdale (1903-1971) was a crystallographer, anti-war campaigner, writer, mother, and former inmate of Holloway Prison. According to the film's producers, her name is still 'curiously unknown by the general public'.

The film came out of a theatre performance prepared by the collective in 2020, a play which in turn was an original narrative developed from the scientist's biography. Although hundreds of local children had been booked to see the performance, the first pandemic lockdown meant that only one class managed to attend a preview, St Patrick’s Newbridge ... which coincidentally was the school that Kathleen Lonsdale attended in 1907. She was born in and lived the first five years of her life in Charlotte House, Newbridge, then the Post Office where her father, Harry Yardley, was the postmaster. It is hoped that Kathleen Lonsdale’s son, Stephen Lonsdale, will travel to Ireland for the premiere.

The Lonsdale Project is supported by Science Foundation Ireland, Arts Council of Ireland, Baboró International Arts Festival for Children, The Royal Institution, SciFest, and TU Dublin. The premiere screening of the film will take place at 2pm on 5 March. A Q&A with the creative team and crystallographer Dr Claire Murray will take place after the screening. Tickets are €4 and all are welcome: booking at www.riverbank.ie.

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