A Dunedin scientist who played a major role in Britain winning World War 1 and was a pioneer in his field is finally getting some much deserved recognition. Reporter Vaughan Elder spoke to University of Otago’s head of chemistry Prof Lyall R. Hanton about the many achievements of Joseph Mellor, whose name now adorns the university’s new state-of-the-art $56 million chemistry building.
The tale of Joseph Mellor’s life and his contribution to science and Otago University is an eventful one.
It includes a seance, a crucial role in Britain’s war effort, the writing of a 16million-word compendium of textbooks, and a friendship with the much better known New Zealand scientist, Ernest Rutherford, who won the Nobel Prize.
The lack of recognition for his work seems to go back to when he was still alive, and in a letter sent in 1937 Lord Rutherford lamented that he was not better known.
"As a New Zealander myself, I appreciate what splendid work you have done for science under difficult conditions, and I have always marvelled how you managed to find the time and energy to produce your great sequence of volumes on chemistry.
"I had hoped that your work would have received some more public recognition at this stage," Lord Rutherford said in the letter addressed to "My dear Mellor".
The letter was sent a year before Mr Mellor died, aged 68, and only a few months before Lord Rutherford’s own death, aged 66.
Prof Hanton said Mr Mellor’s passion for chemistry started in his teens when, after leaving school in Dunedin aged about 12 or 13, he began studying it in his spare time while working for Sargood’s and McKinlays as a boot strapper.
After long days at work and a 5km walk to his Kaikorai Valley home, he spent his nights studying and copying down chemistry textbooks, which he borrowed because he could not afford to buy his own.
This tireless work effort, disregard for normal amounts of sleep and appetite for knowledge would continue through the rest of his life.
From those humble beginnings he eventually began formal training at King Edward Technical College. After his talent was recognised he gained a place at Otago University, where he went on to complete a master’s degree.
Nothing came easy for Mr Mellor and when his final papers were sent to the United Kingdom to be marked, the ship which carried them sank as it travelled around Cape Horn.
He had to resit his exams, delaying his graduation by about six months.
After winning the prestigious 1851 Research Fellowship, which was also awarded to Lord Rutherford, he shifted to England, where he had been born.
He chose to study at Owen’s College in Manchester over better-known institutions, because of its connection to the Methodist Church, of which he was a devout member.
In England, he made major contributions to ceramics and it was in this field he contributed to the war effort by making a crucial discovery solving a dilemma caused when trade with Germany stopped.
The furnaces for forging iron needed to be lined with fire bricks but these all came from Germany and Austria and supply ceased when the war started.
Mr Mellor came up with an alternative method for making the bricks using the chemical compound magnesite.
Prof Hanton said coming up with the formula was "very significant" for the war effort.
It was believed he was offered a peerage for the contribution, but the story went that he said he could not accept one because so many young men lost their lives at war.
He was later recognised with a CBE and made a member of the Royal Society, one of the most prestigious awards for a Commonwealth scientist.
After he died the royalties from his extensive series of text books on inorganic chemistry were bequeathed to the University of Otago.
The textbooks, which contained about 16million words, took about 20 years to write and continued to be updated for decades after he died.
He wrote the books at night, going through six fountain pens and an ounce of tobacco each evening, after eating a dinner coated with copious amounts Worcester sauce.
On top of that he was also a published cartoonist, a skill which he developed with nonsense drawings he sent back to his nieces and nephews in Dunedin. He had no children of his own.
In many of his published cartoons he surrounded himself with beautiful women.
That Otago University received the royalties is attributed to a seance held by his wife Emma Mellor, a known spiritualist who he met in Dunedin and called "the boss", when she visited Dunedin in the 1950s.
According to myth, Mellor’s spirit was conjured during the seance and he indicated the royalties should go to the university, over other Dunedin organisations.
As a result the university has the position of Mellor Chair, appointed to the oldest active chemistry professor, and Prof Hanton said his research into Mr Mellor’s life was sparked after he was appointed to the role.
The one missing piece about Mr Mellor’s life was the extent of his friendship with Lord Rutherford and Prof Hanton believed there were more letters between the pair somewhere.
Like Lord Rutherford, he believed Mr Mellor deserved more recognition.
He was "delighted" his name now adorned the university’s chemistry building, soon to open, which has been called the Mellor Laboratories.