When I arrive in Canberra in 1970, my ultrasonic equipment greeted me and we were able to synthesize high-pressure phases of minerals in Ted Ringwood’s lab.  But I had no way to measure sound velocities of these specimens at high pressure.  Mervyn kindly gave me access to one of his pressure vessels which enabled me to collect data which I reported at the IUGG Congress in Moscow in 1971. In the subsequent 6 years, Mervyn invited me to attend the meetings of his research group at which I met many of his colleagues, postdocs and students, including Bruce Hobbs, Jim Boland, Stefan Schmid and others.

Mervyn and his wife Katali invited me and my wife Barbara to dinner at their home to enjoy fine food and excellent wine.  Later, Mervyn was a guest at our flat in Garran and brought a bottle of wiine; but he would not let me touch it as it was too precious to trust a Yank to open it.

I have fond memories of Mervyn from my days at the ANU and send my condolences to his children.

Bob Liebermann