点评:An early stop on our chauffeur driven tour around Ireland, our family of four visited Birr Castle, a functioning residence for the family of the eighth Earl of Ross. The only floor open for visitors was appropriately furnished and decorated in period furniture, arts and historical artifacts. A caretaker employed by the family gave an informative tour of this ground floor, including secret passages between rooms but left visitors to peruse the “Science Hall” on our own. This was a truly unique, enjoyable and “surprising” feature of the estate. The third son of the Fifth Earl, Charles Parsons was well educated and had a passion for science, particularly astronomy. He used his fortune to build one of the earliest reflector telescopes with a 90 mm diameter mirror, mounted in an elaborately designed outdoor support structure. He was a keen observer of distant galaxies and made sketches and notations of significant value to astronomical science. He also contributed to invention and design of advanced instrumentation, all of which is displayed in the exhibit. In the 1850’s Charles Parsons founded Parsons Engineering Ltd which today is a globally leading engineering firm. Great to see examples of how the hereditary aristocracy can apply their wealth to contribute to humanity and well-being!
翻译:我们一家四口在爱尔兰的司机陪同下游览了比尔城堡,这是第八代罗斯伯爵家族的宅邸,至今仍在使用。城堡唯一对游客开放的一层,陈设精美,摆放着时代家具、艺术品和历史文物。伯爵家族雇佣的管理员带领我们参观了底层,包括房间之间的秘密通道,但“科学厅”则留给了游客自行参观。这真是庄园中一个独特、令人愉悦且“惊喜”的亮点。第五代罗斯伯爵的三儿子查尔斯·帕森斯受过良好的教育,对科学,尤其是天文学充满热情。他用自己的财富建造了最早的反射望远镜之一,其镜面直径为90毫米,并安装在精心设计的室外支撑结构上。他是一位敏锐的遥远星系观察者,绘制的草图和注释对天文学研究具有重要价值。他还为先进仪器的发明和设计做出了贡献,所有这些仪器都在展览中展出。 19世纪50年代,查尔斯·帕森斯创立了帕森斯工程有限公司,如今该公司已成为全球领先的工程公司。很高兴看到世袭贵族如何运用财富造福人类福祉!