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PROFILE | One-on-One


One-on-One

Trinity Today quizzes Professor Iggy McGovern about his life before Trinity, his greatest fears and his favourite smell!

(Photo of Professor Iggy McGovern, Associate Professor in School of Physics)

» How long have you been working in TCD?

30 years come November.

» Did you study in Trinity?

No, at Queen’s Belfast. Apart from the religious issue, TCD had a bad press in the family – my father was hit by a tram in College Green while on his honeymoon.

» What’s your favourite time of year in Trinity?

Trinity Week, when the teaching is finished and the jury (in the form of exams) is still out.

» Ever been to the Trinity Ball?

Only twice: once in my first year and again for the Quatercentenary. Actually, the Staff Event in the Tent that year was much more enjoyable.

» When were you happiest?

Ever or in TCD? Ever, would be when I was first getting going in poetry; in TCD, would be getting elected to Fellowship.

» What is your greatest fear?

Losing my grip on reality.

» What is your earliest memory?

Attempting to go to Primary School a year early, armed with a copy of National Geographic.

» Which living person do you most admire and why?

Seamus Heaney, for his poetry and critical writing as well as for his delicate handling of the demands of public life.

» What is the trait you most deplore in academics?

Reluctance to embrace change – but I am not without sin in that regard.

» What is the trait you most deplore in students?

Binge drinking.

» What do you most dislike about your appearance?

I am rather flesh-challenged.

» What is your most unappealing habit?

Falling asleep during poetry readings.

» What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?

Cowboy outfit. I do a mean Milky Bar Kid (tough and strong, can’t go wrong, etc).

» What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Ice-cream.

» What is your favourite smell?

Hot whiskey, with lemon and cloves.

» What is the last book you read?

‘Stepping Stones – Interviews with Seamus Heaney’ by Dennis O’Driscoll (read in portions over a few months).

» What is the worst job you have done?

Director of Teaching & Learning (Undergraduate) in Physics or toilet attendant in The Bronx.

» What has been your biggest disappointment?

Failing English Literature in GCE O Level. Oh, were we supposed to actually read those books?

» If you could edit your past, what would you change?

I’d pass on the two years as a seminarian.

» If you could go back in time, where would you go?

Front Gate circa 1944, to shout “Mind that tram, Dad!”

» How do you relax? Reading and going to the theatre.

» What single thing (that doesn’t cost the earth) would improve Trinity?

Ban White-Van-Man and motorbike courier access.

» What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My son, Eoin (co-credit Eileen).

» What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

That I am not the centre of the universe (co-credit Eoin, Eileen and all my graduate students).

Tell us a secret…

There are bits of Physics which I don’t really understand.

Tell us a joke…

Briefly, in a competition to name the most important advance in Physics, a child nominates the thermos flask, saying “you put in things hot and it keeps them hot, you put in things cold and it keeps them cold.” When the judges ask what’s so special about that, the child replies “How does it know?” Cue the Second Law of Thermodynamics.


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