One of my mentors was Cyril Stanley Smith of MIT, a major figure in the study of metallurgical history. He came to Yale to give a talk on this subject at a time when I was doing my Honours research on the radiocarbon dating of iron alloys. He enthusiastically supplied me with samples of ancient iron-carbon alloys. I milled them into filings, burned them to extract the carbon, and measured the radioactive carbon-14 to determine their date of manufacture. This he was able to do through his extensive network of contacts in the field of metals. I am still amazed that the British Iron and Steel Institute provided me with 2kg of Roman nails to grind up and burn. At the same time I am mindful of the fact that Cyril Stanley Smith developed the metal alloy that was used to make the bomb casing for the atomic weapon that was dropped on Nagasaki. The alloy made it a particularly nasty, dirty bomb. I am told that it was this involvement in the use of science for war that caused him to become an historian of metals.
This is perhaps a grim example of a scientist setting off in one direction and ending up taking another path altogether. My own path as a scientist has also taken unpredictable turns, but these have been rather more benign. The changes of direction have involved the desire to know and understand things, a sense of adventure, and a sense of doing fun things. I did not set out to be an archaeologist when I went to university, but planned to be a nuclear scientist. Before that, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. We need some historical background here to get to the point.
I grew up in Riviersonderend, a town of 200 families, only one of which spoke English at home. The school had just over 100 pupils in all 12 grades and science was rather haphazardly taught. My father was the woodwork teacher, but he also had to teach history and biology in the high school, which he did by reading the textbooks more quickly than the class. We spent a lot of time together in the veld, where he taught me such things as how to catch a snake and milk the venom from its fangs with a matchstick. (You can see why I am hung up on matches.)
I took to studying birds and in primary school collected egg specimens of fifty species. I hasten to add that I learned how to steal an egg from a nest without interrupting the breeding cycle. I think this is where my interest in science comes from. We moved to the Eastern Cape, where I attended Hoerskool Brandwag in Uitenhage. I considered the Eastern Cape a desolate part of the country, because they did not seem to have any birds there. It is only now that I know that I grew up in the area with the highest species diversity of birds in Africa.
