Mervyn Silas Paterson 1925–2020

Professor Mervyn Paterson FAA was an engineer by training whose pioneering work in experimental geology – designing specialised instruments for studying rocks under high temperatures and pressures – furthered understanding of the Earth's crust and mantle.
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Mervyn Paterson exploited a background in metallurgical engineering and the physics of metals as the basis for a long and influential career in earth sciences, mainly at the Australian National University. 

Recognising the need for specialised equipment for experimental rock deformation, Mervyn made a highly distinctive contribution through his design and construction of a series of machines of progressively increasing sophistication for laboratory studies of the mechanical behaviour of rocks under conditions of high pressure and temperature. The new insights thus obtained in the laboratory have found widespread application in understanding the behaviour of the Earth’s crust and underlying mantle, notably within the disciplines of structural geology and geodynamics.

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About this memoir

This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 33(1), 2022. It was written by Ian Jackson.

Fellow

Mervyn Paterson

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Conversation with scientist

Professor Mervyn Paterson, geophysicist

Professor Mervyn Paterson interviewed by Professor Kurt Lambeck in 2006. Professor Mervyn Paterson is a geophysicist who has led Australian research into rock mechanics and pioneered instrument development over the last fifty years. He was born in South Australia in 1925 into a family of wheat farmers. He attended Adelaide Technical High School, then The University of Adelaide from 1941 to 1943.
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