Sheila Tinney

Mícheál de Paor, originally from rural Kilkenny, Chair of Mathematics at University College Galway (UCG) from 1912 to 1955] and Christina Cunniffe (who died in childbirth when Sheila was 12).

She was educated by the Dominican nuns, both in Galway and in Dublin, and was awarded Honours in Mathematics in the Leaving Certificate Examination (the nation's secondary school exit exam), one of only 8 girls to do so in the whole country.

From September 1948 to June 1949 she took a leave of absence from UCD and was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton where worked in an environment that included Freeman Dyson, Hermann Weyl, Harish-Chandra, and Albert Einstein.

[2] The special medal cast for the 25 Global Winners of The Undergraduate Awards in 2016 (presented 10 November in Dublin) honoured Sheila Tinney, "trail-blazing and brilliant academic, who achieved astounding success through self-belief and determination.

[10] A new portrait of the pioneering mathematical physicist Dr. Sheila Tinney was unveiled at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) on 15 January 2019 to mark the 101st anniversary of her birth.