Leadership

The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2011 has been awarded to three US-born scientists whose observations of distant exploding stars have led to the discovery that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said today that one half of the prize would go to Saul Perlmutter of The Supernova Cosmology Project in the University of California, while the other half is being awarded to Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess, both of the High-z Supernova Search Team. The two teams will share the SEK10m (€1.09m) prize money. Perlmutter began his project in 1988, while in 1994 Schmidt started the other team, in which Riess was…

Ten more business leaders join ITLG’s Diaspora 2016 initiativePictured: John Hartnett, president and founder, ITLG The Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) has revealed the names of 10 more business leaders who have signed up to its Diaspora 2016 initiative, which was announced at last week’s Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin. Under the scheme, the ITLG is creating a pool of global industry leaders who are volunteering to sit on relevant Irish State boards until 2016, without remuneration. According to the ITLG, the initiative’s objective is to provide the Government with a list of 100 highly qualified business leaders who want to contribute their experience and time to help Ireland succeed and thrive.…

Henry Tirri has been appointed to take over from Richard Green as chief technology officer at Nokia. Nokia appoints new CTOPictured: Henry Tirri Henry Tirri Appointed as Chief Technology Officer at Nokia In June, Green took a leave of absence from the company. At the time, he was reported to have been unhappy with management decisions and to have disagreed with Nokia president and CEO Stephen Elop’s smartphone strategy. Richard Green Departs Nokia to Pursue New Opportunities In a statement today, Nokia said Green, who was appointed CTO in May 2010 and had been a member of the Nokia leadership team since February of this year, had decided to leave…

Independent TD Mick Wallace has apologised for derogatory comments he made in the Dáil about Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor, while she just wants the issue to be forgotten. Speaking on RTE’s John Murray Show this morning, Wallace said he was out of order for referring to the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown TD as “Miss Piggy”. The comments were caught on microphone and released to the public this morning. During the audio recording, Wallace can be heard calling Mitchell O’Connor, “Miss Piggy”, during a conversation with fellow Independent TDs Shane Ross and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan. Wallace exonerated the other two TDs, stating they had “nothing to do with it”. On this…

The Minister for Finance has said the next chief of AIB may be paid more than €500,000, reports the Irish Times this morning. Although he said it is unlikely, Michael Noonan has not completely ruled out the possibility that the bank may be allowed to exceed its salary cap of €500,000 as it is having difficulties appointing its next chief executive. “As has been stated publicly by the Taoiseach, a compelling case would have to be made for the Government to consider setting aside this cap taking account of the recent decision on the pay ceilings for CEOs of semi-States and senior public sector posts,” Noonan said in response to…

One of the world’s foremost authorities in the  innate immune system, Prof Luke O’Neill has seen a remarkable transformation in Ireland’s life sciences sector over the past 20 years, as he tells Ann O’Dea. From relatively humble beginnings, the life sciences sector today accounts for some 50pc of all exports from Ireland, a figure that has been growing by some 6pc every year since 2000. Life sciences employs in excess of 52,000 people here. One of Ireland’s leading thinkers, Luke O’Neill, professor of biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin, has participated in, and watched, the transformation in the sector since the late Nineties. O’Neill has won numerous awards for his pioneering…

While research continues to demonstrate that boards with greater female representation outperform those without, women are still failing to make it to the boardroom in significant numbers. The Davos World Economic Forum made headlines in January when it announced it would require its strategic partner members, some of the largest corporations in the world, to ensure that a minimum of one in their cohort of five be a woman. The imposition of such a ‘quota’ is a reflection of the dearth of women at the head of major corporations. Internationally, women are still not making it in great enough numbers to the boardroom. In the US in 2010, representation of…

Round-up: Today in Bahrain, Egypt Libya, Syria and Yemen As the so-called “Arab Spring” protests continue across the Middle East and North Africa, Sinead O’Carroll, has a round-up of what has happened so far today. In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi’s oil chief Shokri Ghanem has defected and travelled to Italy. The head of Libya’s National Oil Corp said today he was ready to leave the regime but was not quite prepared to join the rebels yet. He said the “unbearable” violence led him to quit his job. He told reporters in Rome today that he had witnessed “daily spilling of blood”. He is one of the most senior officials to defect…

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is to stand trial in August, alongside his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, for the role they played in the deaths of protestors during January and February. A date of August 3 has been set for the three mens’ initial appearance in court. The Egyptian state news agency reported that they will all face Judge Ahmed Rifat in a Cairo criminal court for corruption, and graft, as well as the killing of protestors. Mubarak has also been fined US$90m for cutting internet access and mobile phone services in the country during the 18-day uprising. If found guilty of “pre-mediated killing”- the most serious charge he…

Violent Crackdown in Yemen At least 20 people have been killed today in Yemen as security forces opened fire on a camp in the city of Taiz but some activists are claiming the actual death toll is much higher. Reports from the ground say that the soldiers tried to clear the area with water cannons, tear gas and sound bombs but then moved in with tanks and guns. Brutal Assault by Security Forces Tents used by the protestors were set on fire, according to witnesses, while others were bulldozed into the ground. Meanwhile, reports are emerging that Yemeni warplanes have attacked the town of Zinjibar, which officials say is under…