Acceptance of the Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America for 2001

Abstract

Science has been a passion in my life since my grade school days. My interests in mineralogy began with an interest in the color of small pieces of minerals given to me by a friend. The minerals included fluorite, spodumene and elbaite (tourmaline). I was particularly interested in the color of watermelon tourmaline. Questions to my teachers about the origin of the colors did not yield satisfactory answers. Furthermore, I grew up on the glacial till and was also fascinated that, unlike anything I found locally, a mineral like tourmaline could be transparent like a piece of glass. This curiosity led to a life-long quest to understand color in minerals.