THE SCIENCE GALLERY at Trinity College, Dublin says that Google.org has presented it with a €1 million gift to help it launch a global network of galleries.

In total, Google has donated over $100 million to a range of organisations around the world, including projects supporting girls’ education, groups combating human trafficking and slavery, and to support science, technology, engineering and maths studies.

The gallery says it has received over 800,000 visitors since opening in early 2008. Its 18 exhibitions to date have ranged from fashion to infection.

Founding director of the gallery Dr Michael John Gorman said that Google’s donation would help the gallery to “scale its impact internationally”.

“Our vision is to share Science Gallery’s unique approach to public engagement at the interface of science and art,” he said, adding:

We’re planning eight Science Gallery hubs around the world by 2020, developed in partnership with leading universities in key cities such as London and Moscow. In each city, we tap into a vibrant local creative community of researchers, designers, artists and entrepreneurs to engage and inspire the next generation of innovators.

Google’s Geo Operations director David Martin said that Google saw the potential for bringing the gallery’s Dublin success to other cities.

Martin described the gallery’s operations as “a very vivid and engaging example of the innovative spirit that we often talk of as critical to Ireland’s future”.

The Global Science Gallery Network is due to launch in July 2012, while Dublin is the European City of Science.