Ernest Henry Nickel

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Ernest Henry Nickel , called Ernie, (* as Ernst Heinrich Nickel, August 31, 1925 in Louth , Ontario ; † July 18, 2009 ) was a Canadian-Australian mineralogist who later worked in Australia.

Live and act

Nickel grew up on a farm and his interest in mineralogy was sparked while attending school at the Royal Ontario Museum . He graduated from McMaster University with a master's degree in 1951 and received his doctorate in 1953 from the University of Chicago . He then worked at the mineralogical laboratory in the Mines Branch of the Canadian Department and Technical Surveys (CANMET).

In 1971 he became head of mineralogy in the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. Since he was heavily involved in administrative tasks and wanted to deal specifically with nickel minerals, he went to the mineralogy department of the Australian research organization CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) in Perth . At the time, there was a boom in the exploration of nickel deposits in Australia. Nickel published several reports on the deposits and also discovered some new minerals. He became chief scientist at the laboratory, retired early in 1985 (to enable the employment of younger scientists), but continued to work as an Honorary Fellow of the CSIRO.

In 1970/71 he became President of the Mineralogical Association of Canada . From 1974 he was Australian representative in the Commission for Mineral Names (CNMMN) of the International Mineralogical Association and later alongside Joseph Anthony Mandarino its vice chairman (1983-1994). For the IMA he developed the mineral database with Monte C. Nichols . In 2001 he published the 9th edition of Karl Hugo Strunz's Mineralogical Tables .

He was editor of the Australian Journal of Mineralogy.

Nickel was married twice and had three daughters.

Works and mineral descriptions

Together with Monte C. Nichols, he wrote the Mineralogical Reference Manual (Springer Verlag 1991).

Nickel is considered to be the first descriptor of a total of 24 minerals, including Niocalite (1956), Wodginite (1963 together with Rowland and McAdam), Cuprospinell (1973), Carrboydite (1976 together with Clarke), Nickelblödit (1977 together with Bridge), Otwayite ( 1977 with Robinson, Davis and MacDonald), Nullaginit (1981 with Berry) and Kambaldait (1985 with Robinson).

Honors

In 1994 the mineral ernienickelite was named after him.

In 2008 he became an honorary member of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John W. Anthony, Richard A. Bideaux, Kenneth W. Bladh, Monte C. Nichols: Ernienickelite , in: Handbook of Mineralogy, Mineralogical Society of America , 2001 ( PDF 71.1 kB )
personal data
SURNAME Nickel, Ernest Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nickel, Ernst Heinrich (birth name); Nickel, Ernest H.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian mineralogist
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Louth
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 2009