Brian Harold Mason

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Brian Harold Mason (born April 18, 1917 in Port Chalmers , Dunedin , New Zealand , † December 3, 2009 in Chevy Chase , Washington, DC ) was a pioneer in meteorite research. He played a leading role in understanding the nature of the solar system through his studies of lunar rocks and meteorites . He examined and classified thousands of meteoritescollected in Antarctica .

Live and act

Mason grew up in Christchurch , New Zealand. He studied geology and chemistry at Canterbury University College . In 1943 he received his doctorate in geochemistry at the University of Stockholm under Victor Moritz Goldschmidt .

Mason , who was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington , wrote a classic textbook of geochemistry with Carleton B. Moore that was published in 1952 and appeared in four editions. Further publications followed (see below).

Two minerals were named after Mason : Brianite , a phosphate mineral from stone meteorites , and Stenhuggarite (from the Swedish word Stenhuggare for Mason ), a rare iron-antimony mineral. An asteroid was also named after him, (12926) Brianmason , which was discovered on September 27, 1999 by astronomers Joel L. Schiff and Christine J. Schiff .

Mason also received the Leonard Medal of the Meteoritical Society in 1972 and the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America in 1993 .

Works

  • Brian Harold Mason, Carleton B. Moore : Fundamentals of Geochemistry . Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 978-3-432-94611-5 (English, original title: Principles of geochemistry . Translated by Gerd Hintermaier-Erhard, translation of the 4th edition of the English-language original edition, English first edition was 1952).
  • Leonard G. Berry , Brian Harold Mason : Mineralogy: Concepts, descriptions, determinations . WH Freeman , San Francisco 1959 (English).
  • Brian Harold Mason : Meteorites . In: Science . Vol. 138 no.3543 . Wiley , November 23, 1962, ISSN  0036-8075 , pp. 887-888 (English).
  • Leonard G. Berry, Brian Harold Mason : Elements of mineralogy . WH Freeman , San Francisco 1968 (English).
  • Brian Harold Mason : Handbook of Elemental Abundances in Meteorites . Gordon and Breach , New York 1971 (English).
  • Brian Harold Mason : Meteorites . In: Data of Geochemistry . 6th edition. United States Government Printing Office , Washington DC 1979, Chapter B. Cosmochemistry , S. B1-B132 (English).
  • Brian Harold Mason, Simon Nathan : From Mountains to Meteorites . Geoscience Society of New Zealand , Wellington 2001 (English, autobiographical work).

Web links

  • Brian Mason . Brian Mason Scientific & Technical Trust,accessed June 9, 2013.
  • Brian Mason . Royal Society of New Zealand,accessed June 9, 2013(obituary).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Patricia Sullivan : Brian H. Mason, 92; expert on moon rocks, meteorites . The Washington Post , December 9, 2009, accessed June 9, 2013 .
  2. ^ Meteorites - Brian Mason, geochemist and meteorite scientist . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand , November 4, 2012, accessed June 9, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Brian Mason . Brian Mason Scientific & Technical Trust , accessed January 20, 2016 .
  4. ^ Mineral Sciences Staff - Brian Mason . Smithsonian Institution , archived from the original on March 20, 2009 ; accessed on June 9, 2013 (English, original website no longer available, link to WaybackMachine from March 20, 2009).
  5. ↑ JPL Small-Body - 12926 Brianmason (1999 SO9) . NASA - Jet Propulsion Laboratory , accessed June 9, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME Mason, Brian Harold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mason, Brian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand geoscientist, pioneer in meteorite research
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Port Chalmers , Dunedin , New Zealand
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 2009
Place of death Washington, DC , United States