Alexander Newton Winchell (2 March 1874 - 7 June 1958) was an American geologist who pioneered spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic studies on minerals. He wrote an influential textbook, the Elements of optical mineralogy which went into several editions.
Winchell was born in Minneapolis to Newton Horace and Charlotte Sophia. He was educated at the University of Minnesota with a BS in 1896 and MS in 1897 under Charles Peter Berkey. He then studied in Paris under Alfred Lacroix receiving a DSc in 1900. He then joined the Montana School of Mines and later the University of Wisconsin. He worked on applications of X-ray crystallography to mineralogy, working with Linus Pauling, W.H. Taylor and W.L. Bragg. He also consulted for the US Geological Survey, the American Cyanamid Company and was a visiting professor at the University of Virginia and Columbia University. [1]
Winchell married Clare Edith Christello in 1898 and they had five children, several of whom continued in geology. After the death of Clare in 1932, he married his first cousin once removed Florence Mabel Sylvester (granddaughter of Alexander Winchell). He received the Roebling medal of the Mineralogical Society of America in 1955. [2]
William Sefton Fyfe, was a New Zealand geologist and Professor Emeritus in the department of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Ontario. He is widely considered among the world's most eminent geochemists.
Frank Christopher Hawthorne is a Canadian mineralogist, crystallographer and spectroscopist. He works at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus. By combining Graph Theory, Bond-Valence Theory and the moments approach to the electronic energy density of solids he has developed Bond Topology as a rigorous approach to understanding the atomic arrangements, chemical compositions and paragenesis of complex oxide and oxysalt minerals.
Leonard James Spencer CBE FRS was a British geologist. He was an Honorary member of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, and also a recipient of its Bolitho Medal. He was president of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland from 1936 to 1939. In mineralogy Spencer was an original investigator who described several new minerals, including miersite, tarbuttite and parahopeite. He also did important work as a curator, editor and bibliographer. He was the third person to receive the Roebling Medal, the highest award of the Mineralogical Society of America. He wrote at least 146 articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.
Hatten Schuyler Yoder, Jr., was a geophysicist and experimental petrologist who conducted pioneering work on minerals under high pressure and temperature. He was noted for his study of silicates and igneous rocks.
W. Gary Ernst is an American geologist specializing in petrology and geochemistry. He currently is the Benjamin M. Page Professor Emeritus in Stanford University's Department of Geological Sciences.
Brian Harold Mason was a New Zealand geochemist and mineralogist who was one of the pioneers in the study of meteorites. He played a leading part in understanding the nature of the Solar System through his studies of meteorites and lunar rocks. He also examined and classified thousands of meteorites collected from Antarctica.
Paul A. Ramdohr, was a German mineralogist, ore deposit-researcher and a pioneer of ore microscopy.
The Roebling Medal is the highest award of the Mineralogical Society of America for scientific eminence as represented primarily by scientific publication of outstanding original research in mineralogy. The award is named for Colonel Washington A. Roebling (1837–1926) who was an engineer, bridge builder, mineral collector, and significant friend of the Mineralogical Society of America. It is awarded for scientific eminence represented by scientific publication of outstanding original research in mineralogy. The recipient receives an engraved medal and is made a Life Fellow of the Mineralogical Society.
Julian Royce Goldsmith (1918–1999) was a mineralogist and geochemist at the University of Chicago. Goldsmith, along with colleague Fritz Laves, first defined the crystallographic polymorphism of alkali feldspar. Goldsmith also experimented on the temperature dependence of the solid solution between calcite and dolomite. Goldsmith’s research also led him to experiment with the determination of the stability of intermediate structural states of albite. For his outstanding contributions to the study of mineralogy and geochemistry, Goldsmith was awarded the prestigious Roebling Medal by the Mineralogical Society of America in 1988. The mineral julgoldite was named for him.
George R. Rossman is an American mineralogist and the Professor of Mineralogy at the California Institute of Technology.
Bernard (Bernie) Wood is a British geologist, and professor of mineralogy and senior research fellow at the University of Oxford. He specializes in the thermodynamics of geological systems, using experimental techniques. He is a prominent figure in the field of experimental petrology, having received multiple awards throughout his career and taught at several universities worldwide.
William Frederick Foshag was an American geologist and mineralogist. He published nearly 100 papers and described 13 new minerals, including foshagite.
Adolf Pabst was an American mineralogist and geologist.
Charles Palache was an American mineralogist and crystallographer. In his time, he was one of the most important mineralogists in the United States.
Michael Fleischer was an American chemist and mineralogist. He worked as a geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey from 1939 to 1978. He published a huge number of chemical abstracts and reviews of proposed mineral names, and is known for his authoritative Glossary of Mineral Species, first published in 1971.
Hans Peter Eugster was a Swiss-American geochemist, mineralogist, and petrologist.
Herbert Eugene Merwin was an American mineralogist and petrologist.
Carl Wilhelm Correns was a German geologist who pioneered the field of sedimentary petrology. He was noted as an influential teacher and for his textbook Einführung in die Mineralogie (1949). Correns received the Roebling Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1976.
George William Brindley was a British-American crystallographer and mineralogist. He was known for his study of clay minerals including the structure of kaolinites.
Charles Thompson Prewitt was an American mineralogist and solid state chemist known for his work on structural chemistry of minerals and high-pressure chemistry.