Although it has rarely attracted the attention of the Irish public, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) has been viewed internationally as a centre of excellence in the physical sciences and Celtic studies since it began life 85 years ago. In 1940, with the forces of Nazi Germany rampaging across Europe, Éamon de Valera calmly decided to set up a research institute based on his vision of having something that would put Ireland on the global map of science and Celtic studies scholarship, separated from associations with its colonial past. The model was the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study in...