Mervyn and Jaeger invited me to Canberra on a post-doc in 1963 when Mervyn was finishing his first high T/P apparatus. He was properly dubious but, being the gentle man he always was, permitted me to help complete it. It’s first use was in the experiments that showed the embrittlement of serpentinite at the onset of dehydration, a subject that I had brought with me from my doctoral experience at UCLA. I also inadvertently demonstrated the embrittlement of high pressure vessels subjected to internal rusting caused by condensation!

I stayed at Canberra for four years and Mervyn and I became friends, going to the Canberra wine society and on occasional trips together. I was even allowed to drive his classic 1950 Bentley. He was considerate and a wonderful mentor and all of us he knew him will think of him always.

Barry Raleigh