Blackstaff Residents’ Association previously made a request for a plaque honouring John Stewart Bell
Olympia Drive Entrance to Olympia Leisure Centre(Image: )
A new arch has been requested for an entrance to the Olympia Leisure Centre in Belfast as a dedication to a world-famous physicist who was born in the Village.
Belfast City Council, who own the leisure centre, have received correspondence from William Dickson on behalf of the Blackstaff Residents’ Association requesting they consider erecting a metal arch incorporating the wording “John Stewart Bell Entrance” over the entrance from Olympia Drive.
An officer report forwarded to the council’s People and Communities Committee for January states: “The residents’ association feels this would be a more appropriate and fitting gesture to the eminent physicist.”
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Born in the Village area of Belfast in 1928, John Stewart Bell is regarded as one of the 20th Century’s greatest physicists. He devised Bell’s Theorem, an important milestone of quantum physics, and refers to hidden-variable theories.
In 2022, Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilenger received the Nobel Prize for Physics for work on Bell’s theorem.
In October 2017, the council granted a request from the Blackstaff Residents’ Association to rename the Olympia Drive entrance to Olympia Leisure Centre in honour of John Stewart Bell. It was agreed after a wider community consultation exercise and as part of the then Olympia site development. A small plaque was erected in 2017 at the entrance in recognition of the scientist.
At the January meeting of the council’s People and Communities Committee, DUP Councillor Sarah Bunting asked for a report to come back to the committee with costs before any decision would be made on the arch.
Sinn Féin Councillor Róis-Máire Donnelly asked for the report to contain “the potential process in place” for these types of requests. She said: “Some resident’s associations, if they see something like this coming through, it might perk something for them.
“It might be good that we are not getting requests all the time, that if there was one process that people could get through, where we could direct them. We want to make sure everyone gets a chance.”
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