Thomas Witzke

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Thomas Witzke (* 1963 in Finsterwalde ) is a German mineralogist and geochemist .

Live and act

Witzke studied mineralogy and geochemistry at the Bergakademie Freiberg from 1985 to 1990 . His diploma thesis was on "Secondary minerals and Haldenbrand minerals of the Döhlen basin near Dresden".

His general interest in transformation and weathering processes as well as the formation of secondary minerals led him to study hydrotalcite- type compounds including the development of structural models and the refinement of the Rietveld method . He moved to the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg , where he received his doctorate in 1995 with an "Investigation of natural sulfate-containing hybrid layer structures (hydrotalcite group): characterization, systematics, structure modeling and Rietveld refinement".

He used a DFG postdoctoral fellowship in 1995 and a second fellowship in 1997 for further studies on the formation conditions of synthetic and natural heavy metal-fixing hybrid structures of the hydrotalcite group as well as the incorporation of heavy metals, organic and inorganic anions in hybrid layer structures of the hydrotalcite type.

In March 2000, he switched to the Institute of Mineralogy and Depository Studies at RWTH Aachen University as a research assistant and in 2005 to the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Rostock , where he worked on an industrial project with Yara GmbH & Co. KG Rostock on the development of a nitrate-selective hydrotalcite compound worked as a soil improver. Five years later he returned to the Martin Luther University in Halle. He is currently working as a research assistant at PANalytical in Almelo, the Netherlands .

Since January 1, 2015, he has been a member of the “ Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification ” (CNMNC) as the German representative .

In addition to the investigation of hydrotalcite compounds, his scientific interest is mainly in the formation of new minerals on burning heaps and in general the minerals with type locality in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.

Mineral descriptions

Thomas Witzke discovered and described almost twenty minerals as main or co-author so far:

Honors

Publications

  • Thomas Witzke, Klaus Thalheim, Wolfgang Reichel: The minerals of the Döhlen basin . Ed .: State Museum of Mineralogy and Geology. Dresden 1991, ISBN 3-910006-07-8 .
  • Thomas Witzke: Investigation of natural sulphate-containing hybrid layer structures: characterization, systematics, structure modeling and Rietveld refinement . University of Halle, Halle (Saale) 1995 (dissertation).
  • Thomas Witzke, Klaus Thalheim, Andreas Massanek: Minerals with a type locality in Saxony . In: Ore Mountains. Mining history, mineral treasures, localities . tape 1 . Bode, Lauenstein 2018, ISBN 978-3-942588-22-5 .

Web links

Commons : Image collection by Thomas Witzke  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Short biographies of the "Hawley Medal" winners 2005
  2. ↑ List of CNMNC Officers and Members (as of January 1, 2015)
  3. ↑ Mindat - Natroglaucocerinite
  4. ↑ Winner of the "Hawley Medal"
  5. ↑ Mindat - Jokes
personal data
SURNAME Witzke, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mineralogist and geochemist
DATE OF BIRTH 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Finsterwalde