Mac Conaill, Michael Isadore Aloysius (1902–87), anatomist, was born Michael McConnell on 27 July 1902 at Woodvale, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, eldest child as one of the two sons and three daughters of Michael McConnell, spirit merchant, and Lucie Agnes McConnell (née Gallagher). His father had been a member of the Kilrea circle of the IRB, while his mother supported the nationalist cause in any way she could. He was first educated with children from a unionist background at a small private school in Ballymena. When he was eleven his family moved to Belfast and he attended the Oxford Street Christian Brothers’ School. However, he refused to learn Irish, and he transferred to St Mary's School (1915), where he became increasingly interested in nationalism. In school he distinguished himself by coming in the top four for the all-Ireland public examinations, winning numerous other prizes along the way. Shortly before he entered university, he canvassed for Éamon de Valera (qv), the Sinn Féin candidate in the Falls area of Belfast, during the general election of 1918.
Having obtained first place in the entrance scholarship examinations at QUB (1919), Mac Conaill studied medicine, graduating MB, B.Ch., BAO in 1925. While still a first-year student he became involved in the 2nd brigade of the 3rd northern division of the IRA (1920–23) when he brought them intelligence information and trained members of Cumann na mBan and the IRA in first aid. He was also responsible for organising and maintaining the supplies in first aid posts which he had set up throughout nationalist areas of Belfast. This contributed directly and immediately to a decrease in the number of catholics who died as a result of sectarian attacks during the war of independence (1919–21). During his activities as medical officer in the IRA Mac Conaill provided medical care to many victims of the troubles at the Mater Hospital in Belfast. He ensured that false names and addresses were entered into the records for IRA men who arrived in the hospital. In the middle of 1923 he realised that his services were no longer required by the IRA and that he was ‘demobilised’. He never expressed strong convictions about the political solution achieved by the 1921 Anglo–Irish treaty.
After qualifying, Mac Conaill spent a brief period in general practice, then returned to Queen's to carry out postgraduate study in anatomy, obtaining an M.Sc. (1928). Following a brief spell as demonstrator at QUB he moved to University College, London, where he worked with Professor Grafton Elliot Smith (1871–1937), the neuro-anatomist. He was appointed senior demonstrator, then lecturer, in the Department of Anatomy at Sheffield University (1930–42), but moved to UCC when he was elected to the chair of anatomy (1942). There he remained, except for periods as visiting professor in Canada, Ghana, and the USA, until his retirement in 1973, though as emeritus professor he continued to work at the university for several years afterwards.
His main research interest from 1930 was in the functional anatomy of joints, and he became a recognised expert in the subject. Mac Conaill carried out much of his research in conjunction with orthopaedic surgeons, and he is best remembered for applying the theory of hydrodynamic lubrication (an engineering concept) to human joints which he first published in 1932. Much of his early work contributed substantially to the foundation of the discipline of biomechanics, where he applied the principles of mathematics, physics, and chemistry to his own discipline of anatomy very successfully. For this work he was elected MRIA in 1945 and awarded the first D.Sc. in anatomy from QUB in 1950.
But Mac Conaill's ready intellect was not restricted to the field of medicine, and he was also interested in literature, mathematical logic, philosophy, and archaeology, regularly publishing on all of these topics in Irish journals. In recognition of his numerous literary contributions outside of medicine, the NUI awarded him an honorary MA (1964). An accomplished linguist, he spoke eight languages fluently and published poetry in English and French as well as translating an anatomical textbook from French. At some point he must have overcome his earlier dislike of the Irish language, since he adopted the Irish form of his name and even wrote poetry and an introductory book on anatomy for the layman in Irish, An cholann bheo (1949). He co-authored three books (including Synovial joints (1961) and Muscles and movement (2nd ed. 1977)) as well as writing the entry for joints in the fifteenth edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1974). He collaborated with many of his contemporaries, among them Maurice Murnaghan (qv), Patrick Fitzgerald (qv), and the chemist Edward Gurr. His work also formed the basis for the section on the functional anatomy of joints and muscles in the 1973 edition of Gray's Anatomy.
Mac Conaill received acknowledgement of his prodigious academic output from several sources. Elected a fellow of the Linnean Society (1971) and the Royal Anthropological Institute, he was also a member of the British Orthopaedic Association. He served for many years with the Irish Red Cross and, as an enthusiastic member of the FCA, he commanded the First Field Ambulance, Southern Command (1951–67), retiring with the rank of commandant. He maintained an active interest in what went on around him and, following an outbreak of polio in the Cork region, in the 1950s he helped found the Cork Polio and General After-Care Association.
Mac Conaill played a prominent part in the academic life of UCC, where he was a well-known and well-loved figure. A gifted and enthusiastic teacher with a fine sense of humour, he was fondly remembered by many students. Privately, he was a deeply religious man. Although he managed to hide his given name of Isadore (a Spanish saint) from many people, including his children, for most of his life, whenever he met his college contemporaries they delighted in reminding him of it.
In 1930 he married Eileen Coyle, a native of Derry, and they had four children – three sons (Michael, Alastair, and Roderick) and one daughter (Máiréad), who also chose a career in medicine. After a brief period living with his daughter in England, Mac Conaill returned to a nursing home in Cork, where he died 28 January 1987, aged eighty-four. In his memory, his family established the Mac Conaill prize at UCC.