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An irresistible attraction

Richard Walding tells SARASWATHY NAGARAJAN that he is on the trail of academician and scientist Alexander Crichton Mitchell who was once the principal of University College

PHOTO: S. GOPAKUMAR

SCIENTIFIC PURSUIT Richard Walding is in the city to learn more about the work of Alexander Crichton Mitchell

It was an irresistible attraction that brought Richard Walding all the way from Brisbane, Australia, to the city. A teacher of chemistry and physics, Dr. Walding's study on magnetism and anti-submarine defences took him on a trip back in time when the sun had not yet set on the British empire.

He discovered that a kind of anti-submarine device called `indicator loops' was developed by Alexander Crichton Mitchell who had been head of the Department of Physics and eventually the Principal of University College in the late 1890s and early 20th century. Dr. Mitchell, whose imposing portrait adorns the stately University College building, had also been director of the Trivandrum Observatory.

"After returning to England in 1914, he began working on anti-submarine defences and in May 1915 he developed the indicator loop. Although it was installed at a harbour in 1917, the war ended before it could be tested. Later, his work inspired other physicists who carried on his work. "My assumption is that he did much of his preliminary work in the physics laboratory of the University College and the observatory here," says Dr. Walding who has been diligently trying to track down any documentation that might shed light on Dr. Mitchell.

Dr. Walding feels that the late physicist's work would have inevitably put him in touch with the work of John Broun, his predecessor at the Observatory, who was also interested in magnetism and meteorology. Although his visit to the observatory did not yield much in the way of documents, Dr. Waldman avers he is not disappointed.

A few documents

"I have got a few documents that seem to be reminiscences of former students. Although it is not clear who all those writers were, I am trying to figure out their names and the period they studied in the college," he says.

Salim Balakrishnan, head of the Department of History, University College, who was able to help Dr. Walding procure a few documents, says: "On the occasion of the centenary of University College in 1966, three volumes were brought out on the college. One of those has reminiscences of Mitchell. It is in the nature of a tribute to a former teacher."

Dr. Balakrishnan feels that such research fills an important gap in our understanding of the history of the city and its institutions. `For instance, according to Dr. Walding, the Observatory in the city was the finest one in the world then," he adds.

Dr. Walding, who intends to write a book on Dr. Mitchell, plans to go to Trivandrum Club and the Women and Children's Hospital in Thycaud to search for some signs of Dr. Mitchell's life in the city from 1890 to 1914.

"Three of Dr. Mitchell's children were born here and the family stayed in Ross House, which I have been told was built for the first principal of University College. A lot of interesting details have been revealed about the person too. Apparently, he seems to have been a chauvinist and he had had a battle of words with Ms. Watts, who was then principal of Women's College," he says.

Dr. Walding is busy giving talks at various colleges in the city and like other tourists, trying to make the most of his stay in the city by going sightseeing and attending cultural functions.

A piece of history

PHOTO: S. MAHINSHA

MAGNETIC Richard Walding with a piece of the coil and a model of a submarine

After the first World War, Alexander Crichton Mitchell was posted as the director of an observatory in Eskdalemuir, Scotland. He continued his work on geomagnetism and had his anti-submarine loops installed there.

"I felt, it had to be there and so I fetched a metal detector and found it still in place. The authorities were kind enough to give me a piece of the coil," says Richard Walding.

Holding on it, he says, "I get goose bumps when I think that this was same wire that the great man had worked on."

With a model of a submarine and the piece of wire, the enthusiastic teacher demonstrates how the device had once worked to detect German U boats.

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