Interview

Luke O’Neill: ‘It’s a startling business that a scientist needs a bodyguard in this day and age’

The Trinity professor on deepening the base of scientific literacy, lessons we learned from Covid, death threats, and the complex relationship between universities and industry

Professor Luke O’Neill. ‘My goal [with his new book] is just to make it really interesting to people, and the audience is anybody really – non-scientists in particular’

I catch up with Luke O’Neill, professor of biochemistry in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College, in a brief window in his busy schedule, between attending one of U2’s concerts in Las Vegas – at Bono’s invitation – and giving a lecture to a group of fellow scientists in Yale.

“I’m on the road a fair bit describing our latest discoveries. The way you disseminate and you publish, and then you go ...