G. David Price

G. David Price (* around 1955 ) is a British geophysicist, crystallographer and mineralogist, professor at University College London (UCL).

Price studied at the University of Cambridge with a bachelor's degree in 1977, a master's degree and a doctorate in 1981 and was then a Fulbright-Hayes Scholar at the University of Chicago and Clare College in Cambridge. In 1983 he joined UCL as a Royal Society Research Fellow. There he was Professor of Mineral Physics , Executive Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Vice Provost for Research.

He used quantum mechanical molecular dynamics methods to determine the behavior of minerals in the Earth's mantle and of iron in the Earth's core. Ab initio calculations by his group supported, for example, the explanation of the D ″ layer in the lower mantle as a transition from perovskites to post-perovskites .

When examining meteorites that were exposed to shock waves in the transmission electron microscope, he identified high-pressure variants of olivine , including a form he called wadsleyite, which is responsible for the 410 km discontinuity .

He also made important contributions to the clarification of the crystal structure of zeolites such as ZSM-5, which is important as a catalyst in petroleum processing.

In 2006 he received the Louis Néel Medal for establishing the importance of numerical calculation in the physics of minerals and for outstanding contributions to the physics of the Earth's core . In 1999 he received the Schlumberger Medal of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland , and in 2002 the Murchison Medal . He is a member of the Academia Europaea , Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Mineralogical Society of America .

From 2005 to 2008 he was editor of Earth and Planetary Science Letters . From 2004 to 2006 he was President of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland .

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Individual evidence

1. ↑ Laudatory speech