Waldemar Theodore Schaller

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Waldemar Theodore Schaller (born August 3, 1882 in Oakland , California, † September 28, 1967 in Washington, DC ) was an American mineralogist and long-time employee of the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Live and act

Waldemar T. Schaller, son of Theodore P. and Eliza Bornernan Schaller, first received fundamental knowledge in the field of chemistry from his father before he began his studies at the University of California . After completing his bachelor's degree in 1903, he got a position as assistant chemist at USGS.

On March 1, 1912, Waldemar Schaller resigned from his work at the USGS for some time in order to visit several museums in Europe with his wife Mary Ellen Boyland and to hold talks with the leading mineralogists there. In June of the same year he received his doctorate in philosophy under Professor Paul von Groth in Munich with his contribution to the knowledge of the tourmaline group .

Schaller was a member of numerous scientific societies, including the "Mineralogical Society of America", in which he was treasurer from 1930 to 1940, vice president in 1921 and president in 1926. He also served as Vice President (1934) and President (1935) of the Geological Society of Washington, and as Vice President 1936–1937 of the Washington Academy of Sciences. Outside America he was a member of the "Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland", the German and the Vienna Mineralogical Society. He was also a member of the Sigma Xi scientific association and the Cosmos Club .

After more than 60 years working for the United States Geological Survey, Schaller fell seriously ill in 1965 and finally died two years later in the "Mar Salle Nursing Home" in Washington, DC

Outstanding performance

Schaller's contributions to mineralogy were numerous and covered a wide range of topics. However, his conclusion that water or hydroxyl is an indispensable component of tremolite can be regarded as outstanding , which subsequently led to a new interpretation of the composition and structure of all amphiboles. Likewise, his studies of the paragenesis of salt minerals and their deposits in New Mexico and Texas from the Permian period were groundbreaking for the British mineralogists and their later investigations into the English evaporites of the same age.

From 1944 to 1947, Schaller was executive director of the USGS “Chemistry and Physics” department.

Works (excerpt)

Waldemar Schaller's bibliography includes around 300 writings and works, including:

  • 1909: The mercury minerals from Terlingua, Texas
  • 1914: Colorado ferberite and the wolframite series
  • 1916: Cassiterite in San Diego County, California
  • 1930: Borate minerals from the Kramer district Mohave Desert, California
  • 1932: The crystal cavities of the New Jersey zeolite region and Mineralogy of drill cores from the potash field of New Mexico and Texas

Mineral descriptions

Schaller is considered to be the first to describe over 40 new minerals. As early as 1905 he described purpurite together with Louis Caryl Graton .

In 1912 three more mineral descriptions followed in one year with hydroxyapatite , sicklerite and stewartite and in 1915 with bisbeeit , fernandinite , minasragrite and shattuckite four further mineral descriptions in one year, although up to now, according to more recent studies, the CNMMNC discredited it as identical to chrysocolla in 1977 .

With kernite a rare but important ore for the extraction of boron was added in 1927 , in 1950 the silicate miserite followed in a corrective description and in 1958 he and Angelina C. Vlisidis described ajoite .

The mineral crandallite was already known by B. Kosmann in 1869, but it was not until 1927 that GF Loughlin and Schaller gave it an exact analysis and its final name.

Awards and honors

  • In 1919, Schaller was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .
  • In 1925 a mineral described by Gage, Larsen and Vassar was named schallerite in his honor .
  • 1938 Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA)
  • 1945 honorary member of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
  • 1952 "Distinguished Service Medal" from the USGS
  • 1956 honorary member of the Société française de Mineralogie et Cystallographie
  • 1963 Friedrich Becke Medal from the Austrian Mineralogical Society

literature

  • Joseph J. Fahey: Memorial of Waldemar Theodore Schaller , in: The American Mineralogist, VOL. 54, MARCH-APRIL 1969 ( PDF 357.8 kB )
  • Marjorie Hooker: Bibliography of Waldemar Theodore Schaller (until 1953), US Geological Survey, Washington, DC ( PDF 583.8 kB )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Louis Caryl Graton, Waldemar T. Schaller: Purpurite, a new mineral , in: American Journal of Science , Series 4 Vol. 20, August 1905, pp. 146–151, doi: 10.2475 / ajs.s4-20.116.146
  2. ↑ Waldemar T. Schaller (1912): Mineralogical notes, Series 2. Mineralogy of the French phosphorites , in: US Geological Survey Bulletin , Volume 509, pp. 89-100 ( PDF 430.8 kB )
  3. ↑ Waldemar T. Schaller (1912): New manganese phosphates from the gem tourmaline field of Southern California , in: Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences , Volume 2, pp. 143-145 ( PDF 223 kB )
  4. ↑ Waldemar T. Schaller (1915): Four new minerals , in: Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences , Volume 5, S 7 ( PDF 55.5 kB )
  5. ↑ Mindat - Aside
  6. ↑ Waldemar T. Schaller (1927): Kernite, a new sodium borate , in: American Mineralogist , Volume 12, pp. 24-25 ( PDF 141.1 kB )
  7. ↑ Waldemar T. Schaller: Miserite from Arkansas; a renaming of natroxonotlite. In: American Mineralogist. (1950), Volume 35, pp. 911-921 ( PDF 656.4 kB )
  8. ↑ Waldemar T. Schaller, Angelina C. Vlisidis (1958): Ajoite, a new hydrous aluminum copper silicate , in: American Mineralogist , Volume 43, pp. 1107–1111 ( PDF 290.7 kB )
  9. ↑ GF Loughlin, WT Schaller (1917): Crandallite, a new mineral , in: American Journal of Science , Volume 43, pp. 69–74 ( PDF 299 kB )
  10. ↑ John W. Anthony, Richard A. Bideaux, Kenneth W. Bladh, Monte C. Nichols: Schallerite , in: Handbook of Mineralogy , Mineralogical Society of America 2001 ( PDF 62.5 kB )
  11. ↑ Mindat - Schallerite (with pictures of Schaller and the mineral as well as the more complete names of the first person to describe the mineral)
personal data
SURNAME Schaller, Waldemar Theodore
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schaller, WT; Schaller, Waldemar T.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mineralogist
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Oakland , California
DATE OF DEATH September 28, 1967
Place of death Washington, DC