Madam, - I was very heartened to read the account in Leo Enright's Irishman's Diary last Saturday of Mallet's initiation of the scientific discipline of seismology in the mid-19th century. I had come to the conclusion that Mallet's work had faded into obscurity in his native Ireland,
Mallet was indeed a brilliant engineer and scientist, and his contributions extended far beyond the study of travelling vibrations and shock waves. Engineers were generally classified as being either civilian or military 150 years ago (the origin of today's civil and mechanical engineers, respectively). Mallet was both. Thanks to the railway construction boom, Mallet's family had developed a thriving Dublin foundry business supplying iron castings.
Robert himself, however, became fascinated with the science underpinning the solidification of ferrous alloys during the production of castings. When the British military experienced serious fracturing of cast iron cannons during the Crimean War, Mallet undertook a study of the problem and became the first person to publish, in his fascinating and beautiful book On the Physical Conditions Involved in the Construction of Artillery (1856), detailed photographs of the grain structure of sectioned castings. He deduced how the casting processes led to the arrangement of these solidified crystals, and how the crucial defects were thus formed.
I became aware of my fellow Dubliner's metallurgical R&D, which is well known in the Royal Society of London, while carrying out research on alloy solidification. It proved a great motivation to unearth the important Irish contribution in the field 150 years ago.
Today, UCD is involved in advanced studies of alloy solidification being carried out on European Space Agency microgravity facilities in space. no doubt Mr Enright will appreciate this work also! - Yours, etc,
DAVID J BROWNE, Senior Lecturer in Materials Science and Engineering, UCD, Dublin 4.