Alfred Edward Ringwood

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Alfred Edward Ringwood FRS (born April 19, 1930 in Kew, a district of Melbourne ; † November 12, 1993 ), also called "Ted", was an Australian experimental geophysicist and geochemist . In 1988 he received the highest award from the Geological Society of London , the Wollaston Medal .

The mineral ringwoodite was named after Ted Ringwood in recognition of his work with germanate minerals formed under geologically low pressure as a replacement for polymorphic silicate minerals formed under high pressure . The results of the experiments enabled him to predict that polymorphic phase transitions in the minerals olivine and pyroxene, which are frequently found in the earth's mantle, already take place in the transition zone. At the Australian National University he began experimental studies of silicates under high pressure and was able to prove in 1959 that the iron-rich end member of the olivine mixed crystal series could indeed be converted into the denser spinel structure , as numerous solid samples of germanates and germanate silicates had already shown . In 1966, Ringwood and Alan Major, his technical assistant from 1964 to 1993, succeeded in synthesizing the spinel form of (Mg, Fe) 2 SiO 4 , and in the same year in converting pure forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ) into the spinel form. This mineral was named after him.

In 1978, his team at the Australian National University developed the Synroc process, possibly a way to safely store and dispose of radioactive waste .

Ringwood died of lymph gland cancer on November 12, 1993 at the age of 63 .

Honors

Ringwood received numerous awards including

literature

  • DH Green: Alfred Edward Ringwood 1930-1993 . In: Historical Records of Australian Science . Vol.12, no. 2 , 1998 ( online article ( Memento dated December 31, 2002 in the Internet Archive )).
  • DH Green: Alfred Edward Ringwood. April 19, 1930– November 12, 1993 . In: Biographical Memoirs of the Fellows of the Royal Society . Vol. 44, 1998, pp. 351–362 , doi : 10.1098 / rsbm.1998.0023 ( Online [PDF; 3.8 MB ; accessed on October 23, 2018]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wollaston Medal . (No longer available online.) The Geological Society of London , archived from the original on August 19, 2010 ; accessed on January 23, 2016 (English, original website no longer available).
  2. ^ DH Green: Alfred Edward Ringwood. April 19, 1930– November 12, 1993 . In: Biographical Memoirs of the Fellows of the Royal Society . Vol. 44, 1998, pp. 359 f .
personal data
SURNAME Ringwood, Alfred Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ringwood, Ted
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian experimental geophysicist and geochemist
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Kew, Melbourne
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1993