Eugene O'Mahony facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eugene O'Mahony
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O'Mahony in 1948
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| Born | 1899 County Limerick, Ireland
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| Died | 21 June 1951 (aged 51–52) Dublin
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Natural history |
Eugene O'Mahony (1899 – 1951) was an Irish museum expert and entomologist. An entomologist is a scientist who studies insects. He focused on different types of insects, including beetles (Coleoptera), lice (Mallophaga), and fleas (Siphonaptera).
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Early Life and Interests
Eugene O'Mahony was born in County Limerick, Ireland, in 1899. When he was a child, his family moved to Dublin. He did not go to a regular school because of health issues. Before he started working at the museum, he said he was an electrical engineer. Eugene was also very good at rifle shooting and won medals for it. He was an active member of the Clontarf Yacht Club. He also volunteered with the Irish Navy's early version from 1939 to 1945. He was given the rank of Chief Petty Officer and Instructor. Eugene was also a skilled cabinet maker. He made many special cabinets for the museum's insect collections. He also built slide cabinets and detailed ship models.
Museum Career
O'Mahony started working at the Natural History Museum, Dublin in 1922. He was hired as a Technical Assistant. He learned a lot from experienced scientists like James Nathaniel Halbert. From 1924 to 1930, O'Mahony was one of only two staff members in the museum's zoology department. This meant he had many important duties. Sometimes, he was even fully in charge of the museum's animal collections.
Despite his hard work, O'Mahony never moved up from the lowest staff position. He also never received a pay raise. He was offered a job in Canada as a forest entomologist. He tried to use this offer to get a better, permanent job at the museum. However, this did not work out. He eventually turned down the Canadian job, which he later regretted. He could not get a permanent job at the museum because of limited funds and because he did not have a university degree.
Later, in the 1940s, his duties increased even more. University College Dublin gave him a Master of Science degree for his published research. Even with this honor, the museum only offered him a permanent job as a Senior Attendant. This offer came after his friends and colleagues asked the Minister for Education to help him. O'Mahony refused this job because it would have required him to wear a uniform and supervise the museum's galleries.
Contributions to Entomology
Between 1924 and 1951, O'Mahony wrote over fifty articles about Irish beetles. Most of these articles appeared in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Many of his writings reported new insect findings for Ireland and specific counties. Experts like Stelfox and Beirne considered O'Mahony one of the most important figures in Irish entomology from the 1920s until his death. He also wrote about a pale-colored type of the common house mouse found on North Bull.
Later Life
Eugene O'Mahony passed away on June 21, 1951.
Collections
After O'Mahony's death, his collection of 12,209 insect specimens was given to the Hope Department of Entomology at the University Museum, Oxford. This collection also included his handwritten notes, like a notebook about beetles in County Dublin. Some letters were also part of the collection.
His family sent the collection to Oxford because a colleague, Stelfox, advised them not to give it to the British Museum. O'Mahony, like Stelfox, had arranged for his personal collections to go to places outside Ireland. This was unusual because they had collected these specimens during their official work at the museum. Some believed this was a way to show their unhappiness with how they were treated during their careers at the museum. However, O'Mahony's collection was later returned to the Natural History Museum, Dublin, in 1984.
Works
- Coleoptera in Praeger R.L. (ed.) Report on recent additions to the Irish fauna and flora (terrestrial and freshwater) Proc. R. Irish Academy, 93(B), pp. 22–36(1929).
