Dunsink

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Dunsink (Irish: Dún Sinche, meaning Fort of Sinneach) is a townland near Finglas, north Dublin, Ireland.

In Dunsink is an important observatory, at which both William Rowan Hamilton and Hermann Brück were directors. The Observatory is the oldest scientific institution in Ireland. Built in 1783-1785, the observatory houses a 12inch (30cm) refracting telescope which was built by Grubbs of Dublin using a French manufactured lens. The 1880 Definition of Time Act set the official time in Ireland to be Dublin mean time. This was regarded to mean the time at Dunsink, which was about GMT-25m21. In 1916 another act moved Ireland to Greenwich Mean Time. Dunsink time is mentioned repeatedly in Ulysses. The observatory is situated on a hill 8km northwest of Dublin's city centre, where it houses the Astronomy section of the School of Cosmic Physics in the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Dunsink is also the site of a major unofficial Traveller encampment, the subject of considerable media coverage in 2007.