Group calls for Belfast school to be renamed after scientist

A residents' group have called for recognition of a famous Northern Ireland scientist in the area where he lived.
Fane Street Primary School badge.Fane Street Primary School badge.
Fane Street Primary School badge.

Today marks John Bell Day, an anniversary which celebrates the publication of Bell’s Theorem on November 4, 1964 - a scientific study which disproved Einstein’s views on quantum mechanics.

Mr Bell already has a street in Belfast named in his honour - Bell’s Theorem Crescent - and the old Belfast College of Technology building which was recently refurbished for student accommodation has been renamed John Bell House.

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However, Blackstaff Residents’ Association believe Mr Bell, who grew up on Tates Avenue, needs to be recognised within the community from which he came.

William Dickson explained: “It is our intention to seek what support there would be for the renaming of the Fane Street Primary School to John Stewart Bell Primary School and for the erection of a blue plaque on what was the Bell family home on Tates Avenue.

“John Stewart Bell is a fabulous role model for the youth of Belfast and would be an inspiration to the children who attend the Fane Street Primary School, where he was a pupil.”

Regarded as one of the 20th Century’s greatest physicists, Mr Bell was believed to have been in line for a Nobel Prize in physics when he died in 1990 from a stroke.