A socket could be used for the 4-pin TO-39 case if one was available on a breakout board. They would need to be bent quite a bit to fit and that is probably not the best idea on an expensive sensor.

The wire leads are a bit problematic for a breadboard.

It is also available on some older breakout boards and evaluation boards, but the sensor can be directly interfaced to mbed. Narrow beam width versions such as the MLX90614ESF-DCI include a black metal barrel. One of the more interesting and expensive ones (about the price of an mbed) with a narrow five degree beam width or field of view (FOV) is shown below. The application note Understanding MLX90614 on-chip digital signal filters explains the tradeoffs in accuracy and update rates using the on-chip DSP filters. last three letters in part number - see datasheet) of this device with voltages of 5 or 3V, beam width ranging from 90 to 5 degrees, accuracy ratings from. There are quite a number of different versions (i.e. Calculations to compensate the temperature for lower emissivity can be used, if you know the emissivity of the surface you are measuring. Metals such as aluminum have low emissivity and will tend to read lower IR temperatures. IR temperature readings can vary depending on the emissivity of the target. The distance to the object does not change the temperature reading as long as the object fills the sensor’s field of view (beam width). IR thermometers measure the IR surface temperature of an object. It has an I2C or PWM interface and will operate off of 3.3V. It contains an internal 17-bit ADC and a custom DSP chip to achieve high accuracy and resolution. The Melexis MLX90614 is an infrared thermometer designed for non-contact temperature sensing.

Mlx90614 sensor proteus library