Brian Mason (geochemist)
Brian Mason | |
|---|---|
Victor Moritz Goldschmidt | |
| Doctoral students | Ross Taylor[1] |
Brian Harold Mason (18 April 1917 – 3 December 2009) was a New Zealand
Life
Mason was born in
Mason returned to Christchurch where he was appointed lecturer in geology at Canterbury University College. He taught there for two years. In 1947, he was appointed professor of mineralogy at Indiana University where he was based for rest of his life. He was a curator of mineralogy at both the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Mason died in Washington, D.C., on 3 December 2009
His third wife, Margarita C. Babb, and mother of Frank Turner, died on 3 February 2009 due to complications from multiple myeloma. They were married for 15 years. Mason was married two other times, first to Anne Marie Linn and then to Virginia Powell; both marriages ended in divorce. He had a son, George, with his second wife. George died in a mountain climbing accident in 1981 at the age of 20.
Awards and honours
- Mason won the Meteoritical Society in 1972 and the Roebling Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America in 1993.[8][9]
- He was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1984.[10]
- Two minerals, brianite and stenhuggarite, have been named after Mason. Brianite is a phosphate mineral (Na2CaMg(PO4)2) and stenhuggarite (Swedish: stenhuggare, meaning "mason") is a rare iron-antimony mineral.
- Asteroid M.P.C. 41386).[12]
Selected works
- The literature of geology, American Museum of Natural History, 1953
- Meteorites, Wiley, 1962
- The lunar rocks, Authors Brian Harold Mason, William G. Melson, Wiley-Interscience, 1970, ISBN 978-0-471-57530-6
- Handbook of elemental abundances in meteorites, Editor Brian Harold Mason, Gordon and Breach, 1971
- Principles of Geochemistry Editor Carleton B. Moore, Wiley, 1982, ISBN 978-0-471-57522-1
- Victor Moritz Goldschmidt: father of modern geochemistry, Geochemical Society, 1992, ISBN 978-0-941809-03-0
See also
References
- ^ "Stuart Ross Taylor (1925–2021)". Meteoritical Society. 24 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ^ Meteorites - Brian Mason, geochemist and meteorite scientist - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- ^ "Brian Mason - a brief profile" Archived 28 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Brian Mason Scientific & Technical Trust
- ^ "Brian H. Mason, 92: Smithsonian expert on rocks from moon", Washington Post, Patricia Sullivan, 9 December 2009
- ^ "NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Ma". Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ Sarjeant, William (2002). "Review". Earth Sciences History. 21 (2): 207–209.
- ^ "Brian Mason". Royal Society of New Zealand. 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ Taylor, Stuart Ross (1994). "Presentation of the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Societyof America for 1993 to Brian Mason" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 79: 768–769. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ^ Mason, Brian (1994). "Acceptanceof the RoeblingMedal of the Mineralogical Societyof America for 1993" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 79: 770–771. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ^ "List of Honorary Fellows: M–O". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
- ^ "12926 Brianmason (1999 SO9)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
External links
- Photo of and interview with Mason as part of a longer piece about the Moon rocks, in Dutch, in Vrij Nederland, July 1994
