John Feehan

John Anthony Feehan (born 12 May 1946) is an Irish geologist, botanist, author and broadcaster. He was born in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland. Feehan received his early education with the Presentation Brothers in Birr and the Salesian Fathers at Heywood, then studied Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin. After a year of voluntary teaching service in South Africa, he returned to Trinity College to study geology under Charles Hepworth Holland, receiving his PhD on the geology of the Slieve Bloom and Devilsbit Mountains in 1980. He was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin, where he taught for twenty years up to his retirement in 2012. In May 2021, he was made a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Career

Feehan has written extensively on the natural and cultural heritage of the Irish landscape and on many broader aspects of environmental science. In 1986 and 1990 he wrote and presented the television series Exploring the Landscape and Tar Amach Faoin Aer / Exploring the Celtic Lands, produced by Éamon de Buitléar and directed by Paddy Breathnach, for which he received a Jacob's Television Award in 1988.

Feehan teaches on a range of summer schools, field courses and postgraduate programmes, including the Offaly Naturalists' Field Club and at An Taiseach, the Dominican Ecology Centre in Wicklow.

His major work on Irish agriculture is "Farming in Ireland: History, Heritage and Environment".

Between 1992 and 2008 he collaborated with Bord na Móna on Ireland's peatland heritage. He has developed principles for the restoration of the country's post-extraction peatlands.

He is also an Honorary Life Member of the Cork Geological Association and the County Kildare Archaeological Society.[citation needed]

Geology and botany

His research interests include pollination biology of tropical mistletoes (Loranthaceae) (Feehan, 1985).

Writing

His book on creation spirituality, The Singing Heart of the World (Feehan, 2010), was published in Dublin by Columba Press and in New York by Orbis Books in 2012.

His book Atlas of the Great Irish Famine was named Best Irish Published Book of the Year in 2012.

References

  1. ↑ "Admittance Day 2021". Royal Irish Academy. 21 May 2021. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  2. ↑ Mercier Press: John Feehan Retrieved 4 April 2013
  3. ↑ Fr. Séan McDonagh: "The Wonder of God's Creation". Retrieved 4 April 2013
  4. ↑ Trinity College Dublin: Irish film archive. Retrieved 4 April 2013
  5. ↑ Offaly Naturalists' Field Club. Retrieved 29 April 2013
  6. ↑ An Tairseach Dominican Ecology Centre, Wicklow. Retrieved 30 October 2020
  7. ↑ Kevin Myers, Irish Independent 6 July 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013
  8. ↑ Michael Viney, Irish Times March 30 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013
  9. ↑ PublicPolicy.ie: "Bogs – When they're Gone, they're Gone. Retrieved 21 April 2013
  10. ↑ Feehan, John (1985). "Explosive flower opening in ornithophily: a study of pollination mechanisms in some Central African Loranthaceae". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 90 (2): 129–144. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1985.tb02205.x. ISSN 1095-8339.
  11. ↑ "The Singing Heart of the World". Columba Press. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
  12. ↑ "The Singing Heart of the World, Creation, Evolution, and Faith, By Author John Feehan". www.episcopalbookstore.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2026.
  13. ↑ "Home". Cork University Press. Retrieved 20 September 2026.