UCC awards Master's degree to victim of 1968 plane crash

A Masters degree has been awarded for research into milking performance by a former student at a Fermoy Agricultural Research Institute some 56 years after its submission. 

In what University College Cork described as “probably the longest period before award of a posthumous degree in UCC”, the family of Michael Cowhig attended a special ceremony on the campus today where a Masters degree was awarded for Michael’s work.

A native of Kilbrittain in West Cork, Michael had submitted a thesis for a Masters to University College Cork towards a Masters qualification shortly before his untimely death in a plane crash.

A victim of the Tuskar Rock air crash, Michael and his two colleagues, John F. Nyhan and Thomas P. Dwane, were travelling to England to attend a conference in Reading when Aer Lingus Flight 712 crashed en route from Cork to London on March 24 1968.

The crash, which took place in the sea off Tuskar Rock, County Wexford, claimed the lives of all 61 passengers and crew on board.

Michael and his colleagues, who worked at the Agricultural Research Institute at Moorepark, Fermoy – now Teagasc – were to share their research into milking machine practice at the conference.

The process of awarding the Masters ended following Michael’s tragic death until his family recently approached UCC to ask that his work be reviewed for consideration.

They were prompted to do so by a memoir by Michael’s supervisor, retired Professor and former MEP Tom Raftery, which stated that the thesis had in fact been approved at the time for the award of Masters.

Professor Alan Kelly, head of UCC School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, subsequently reviewed Mr Cowhig’s thesis entitled ‘A study of the milking performance of eight milking machines’, and recommended the University recognise it for the award of a Masters degree, which was agreed by the relevant college committees.

Professor Kelly said: “The work was of a very high scientific standard, and presents an important historical record of technologies which were only newly being put in place on Irish farms. If a thesis of this standard was submitted today we would have no hesitation in making the award.”

The Masters was presented to Michael’s family by UCC President Professor John O’Halloran at a special ceremony in UCC attended by family, friends, and former colleagues of Michael, Thomas, and John.

The Cowhig family said: “As a family we would like to thank the President and staff of UCC for their wholehearted efforts in establishing the merits of our dad’s research. We would also like recognised the support provided in this case by the Teagasc/Moorepark family.

“We are very grateful, in particular, to retired Professor Tom Raftery, whose determined spirit persisted over many years and acted as catalyst to the award of this Master’s Degree.

“We have always been very proud of what our dad achieved in his short lifetime, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to attend this award ceremony in the company of so many of his former colleagues and friends.”