My Research Connections with English Scientists over the Past Six Decades

Over the past six decades, I have maintained research connections with English scientists while pursuing an academic career focusing on scientific discoveries of the physical properties of minerals at high pressures and temperatures. During this period, I have also visited many research laboratories in England, including University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Oxford and the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment [AWRE] in Aldermaston, England. The objective of this paper is to relate this history.


Introduction
Over the past decade, I have concentrated on writing papers on my history pur- on detecting and discriminating underground nuclear explosions from natural earthquakes [6]. Among those events was Long Shot in 1965 beneath Amchitka Island in the Aleutians [7]. These studies were conducted in the framework of the threat of nuclear weapons and the necessity of success at negotiations of a test ban treaty.
Our work paralleled that at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Aldermaston, England, which was directed by Hal Thirlaway, and also studied Long Shot. In 1968, I visited his team, including Peter Marshall and Alan Douglas, at the headquarters of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in Blacknest.

Mineral Physics
In 1967, I was encouraged by fellow grad students Art McGarr and Peter Molnar to shift the focus of my research from seismology to the new field of mineral physics, then being introduced to Lamont Geological Observatory by Orson Anderson [8]. Over the next 4 years, I conducted experiments on the sound velocities of minerals at high pressures and temperatures under the guidance of Edward Schreiber and worked under the supervision of Orson Anderson on several semi-theoretical papers; among those was one developing equations for the pressure derivatives of the elastic constants for three cubic lattices [9].
As part of my education in mineral physics, Anderson arranged for me to attend two conferences sponsored by NATO and convened by Keith Runcorn at the University of Newcaste-upon-Tyne in 1966 and 1968 and we subsequently published a paper in the conference volume edited by Professor Runcorn [10].
Dan McKenzie from the University of Cambridge visited Lamont for several months in 1971. There was considerable interest in this visit, especially in view of the fact that his paper with Robert Parker on plate tectonics had recently been published [11]. That work closely paralleled the work of Isacks, Oliver and Sykes [12] on "new global tectonics", which focused on the key observation of the occurrence of deep-focus earthquakes in the Tonga-Fiji region.
When I sent Dan a copy of the Anderson and Liebermann 1970 paper [9], he commented: "This is the first paper I have read that I wish I had written and published."

ANU Years 1971-1976
In 1970, I moved to Canberra, Australia and established the first mineral physics

Stony Brook Years 1976-2022
In 1976, I moved from the ANU to Stony Brook University to join the faculty of the Department of Geosciences [13]. Over the ensuing years, I have had extensive research connections with English scientists and universities.

University of Cambridge
One of the first connections between Stony Brook and Cambridge was through Baosheng Li [14] and the structural evolution, strain and elasticity of perovskites at high pressures and temperatures with Carpenter's colleague Peter Sondergeld [15]. Somewhat later, Carpenter's team studied elastic and anelastic relaxation in hematite [16], which was the same mineral on which I conducted my first ultrasonic experiment [17].  Bernie Wood is well known for his work on the behavior of trace elements [1]. He has developed models to study compatibility and predict trace element partitioning between crystals and melts, which are relevant for igneous differentiation. I met Bernie when he was on the faculty of Northwestern University from 1985-1988.
John Woodhouse is widely recognized for his pioneering and unselfish contributions to theoretical, observational and computational seismology, which led to major discoveries on the Earth's internal structure and earthquake characteristics.
Also, Andrew Jephcoat, whom I first met at the Geophysical Laboratory in Washington in the 1980s and later at Okayama University in Misasa, Japan.