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Welcome to Fun-Engineering. Here you will find information, activities and stories relating to engineering—just for fun! This is the personal web site of Jim McGovern and the diversity or arbitrariness of the site is a reflection of his interests.
Possible PhD Research Opportunity in Earth Climate Thermodynamics
Prof. Jim McGovern of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Dublin Institute of Technology provides details of funding opportunities for potential PhD students who would be interested in working with him.
Click on the animated link to the right.
Professor McGovern also invites interested companies or organisations to contact him in relation to the topic of Earth Climate Thermodynamics.
About the Author
This web site has been prepared by Jim McGovern.
Click the photo for details about his career and his publications.
Jim's Blog
This is Jim McGovern's blog.
Click the icon to go to the blog.
An Engineering Demonstrator
Are you are wondering
what Engineering is all about? Click the icon on the right for details of a
simple demonstration model that was constructed to explain some of the basic
principles of engineering. You can also view a video clip of the demonstrator.
Miss Tumble and the Steam Museum
This is a story that is mainly intended
for children aged between ten years and fourteen years. It
teaches them about the principles of steam engines. The story
is also suitable for adults who are interested in teaching children
about the technology of steam power plants and the
industrial history of the Steam Age. Click on the icon to read the story. It may seem a little far-fetched; but there really is a steam museum, at a place called Straffan.
A
K Leo About Thermodynamics
Occasionally Professor Leo Nest answers questions put to him about Thermodynamics. This stuff is rather technical.
Click the moving icon to go to some questions and Leo's answers.
An Interesting Spinning Top
This is a rather unusual spinning top.
Click the photo for more information and a video clip.
Symmetry
Symmetry is fun. It's not just part of Engineering—it's part of everything! The link here is to a paper entitled "Some Rather Mechanical Reflections on Symmetry: in Art, Science, Engineering, Mathematics, etc." by Jim McGovern.
This was written for a general audience as his Inaugural Lecture as a Professor of Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). Click on the image of a tetrahedral kite to go to the DIT archive, Arrow@DIT, from where you can download the paper as a .pdf file.
Double Pendulum
Simple double pendulums were constructed using plastic components from a construction set. The pendulums demonstrate chaotic motion.
A Disused Tractor in Context
Some pencil sketches made in Gleann Cholm Cille. Click on the tractor icon to view them.
Boats in Connemara
Two pencil sketches of boats in Connemara.
Light Rail Experience
This is a poster inspired by the Dublin light rail system called LUAS, which means speed in Irish. It is called Sonas, which is the Irish for happiness!
Jocular Engineering
Jocular Engineering is only for those who are technically and jocularly qualified.
Providing Academic Leadership as a Senior Lecturer
The linked document is a personal expression in relation to academic leadership at a particular moment in time and under the rather specific heading of "Providing academic leadership through the role of Senior Lecturer 1 (Teaching) using the theme of 'Sustainable Energy' as an example".
The Very Basics of Sustainability—an Alternative Viewpoint
On 14th August 2009 Jim McGovern presented one of the keynote addresses at the 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Energy & Environmental Protection at Dublin City University, Ireland. The address, which dealt with the very basics of sustainability, was not over-technical and presented views that were somewhat alternative to ‘conventional’ alternative views. A set of slides with audio is available in the Dublin Institute of Technology’s archive, ARRROW, at the link above in the form of a pdf file (note: the file size is large, 41 MB, because it contains about 43 minutes in total of audio clips).
Ireland France Hand Ball Poster
This doesn’t have much to do with engineering, or does it? In the 2009 Ireland vs France Soccer match, technology allowed perhaps millions of viewers to see a foul that the referee and the match officials missed. If such information is not made available to referees for games that are broadcast in this way, there is a risk to the integrity of competitions. Click or right-click on the image for a larger PDF version.
Ireland France Hand Ball Poster by Jim McGovern is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
© 2001-2009 Jim McGovern. All rights reserved
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