OBITUARY

Maurice Mulcahy died on 31/01/2020.

Born in 1920, Dr Maurice Francis Robinson Mulcahy FTSE was a passionate scholar and a distinguished global authority on chemical kinetics.

He researched the propagation of explosives in liquids at the University of Melbourne during WWII and received his Doctor of Philosophy at Oxford University in 1948.

Dr Mulcahy began his 38-year career with the CSIRO researching the detonation of nitroglycerine under impact. He gained a reputation for keeping a cool, unruffled demeanour during extremely dangerous work in the lab. One colleague said “the retention of his limbs was ample testimony to his experimental ability.”

Dr Mulcahy brought his profound fundamental scientific skills to a range of practical applications, from coal combustion to atmospheric chemistry to the fouling of boiler furnaces. His acclaimed 1973 book Gas Kinetics was one of his many of publications.

In 1983 he became the first Australian to receive a Combustion Chemistry Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. In the same year he began his long retirement, which he enjoyed with international visiting professorships; an honorary research Fellowship with the CSIRO; and his library of hundreds books covering his vast range of cultural and intellectual interests.

In 2003 Dr Mulcahy was awarded a Centenary Medal for his extensive research into the atmospheric chemistry of urban and industrial air pollution. His work influenced our understanding and management of these issues across the globe.

He was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 1980, and was a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for an extraordinary 78 years.

Dr Mulcahy died on 31 January 2020, two weeks before his 100th birthday. He and his late wife Jeanne had five children and four grandchildren. 

Dr M.F.R. Mulcahy is recognised as an eminent world authority on chemical kinetics. His reputation, obtained during 38 years of research with CSIRO. is characterised by the application of fundamental principles to applied problems. His research has made notable contributions to a wide range of topics in the field of Applied Science, including: the combustion of coal, the fouling of boiler furnaces and both urban and industrial air pollution. Dr Mulcahy is the author of an advanced textbook on 'Gas Kinetics', in addition to many scientific papers including important review articles.