What mysterious forces bring Science and Poetry together? Why did William Hamilton, Tycho Brahe and Marie Curie all write verse? How is it that Omar Khayyam wrote a treatise on algebra and why was Percy Bysshe Shelley fascinated by chemistry? To the contrary, why did Mary Shelley dream up the tale of Frankenstein?

Poets from all over Europe gather at each Euroscience Open Forum ESOF to consider the complex relationship between Science and Poetry. From their poems and from their debates, discover a fruitful dialogue between advanced research and the poetry of our times. With contributions from more than thirty contemporary poets, which include the current President of Ireland and one Nobel Laureate of literature, Seamus HEANEY.

The book ‘Science meets Poetry 3: Proceedings from ESOF2012 in Dublin’ contains the lectures and poems of a regular event ‘Science meets Poetry’, which has taken place every two years since 2006 in a different European City (Munich, Barcelona, Turin, Dublin …) wherever the ESOF Forum happens to occur.

It is co-edited by Jean-Patrick Connerade (Chaunes) is Emeritus Professor of Physics at Imperial College and writes poetry (in French, under his pen name Chaunes). He is the founder and organiser of the ‘Science meets Poetry’ events. He is also President of the European Academy of Sciences Arts and Literature, a former President of Euroscience and Honorary Professor of Physics at the East China University of Shanghai. He is the International Representative of the Society of French Poets, based in Paris. He shared his account of the event, in French, in a recent CNRS newsletter.

The other co-editor of this book, Iggy McGovern, is Professor of Physics at Trinity College Dublin and is also a noted Poet. He is a member of ‘Poetry Ireland’ and was co-organiser of the ‘Science meets Poetry’ conference of Poets held at Trinity College. He also co-ordinated a book entitled ’20 12 Twenty Irish Poets Respond to Science in Twelve Lines‘ published by Dedalus Press on the occasion of ESOF2012.