William A. Bassett

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William Akers Bassett (born August 3, 1931 in Brooklyn ) is an American geophysicist , mineralogist , geochemist and geologist .

Bassett studied at Amherst College ( Bachelor in 1954) and at Columbia University with a Master's degree in 1956 and a doctorate in geology in 1959 (on phyllosilicates ). From 1958 to 1962 he was a geochemist in potassium-argon dating at Brookhaven National Laboratory and from 1959 to 1962 he conducted research at Columbia University. In 1960 he became an assistant professor and later professor of geology at the University of Rochester . From 1978 he was Professor of Geology at Cornell University . He has been Professor Emeritus there since 2000.

In 1967/68 he was visiting scholar at Brigham Young University , 1974 visiting professor at MIT and 1985 Guggenheim Fellow visiting professor at the University of Paris .

He deals with the behavior of minerals under extreme conditions similar to the earth's interior. To do this, he uses diamond anvil cells and heating the minerals with neodymium YAG lasers. To observe the processes in the minerals in real time, he uses the synchrotron radiation source CHESS (Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source) in Cornell. Most recently he used it to investigate hydrothermal systems in the HDAC (Hydrothermal Diamond Anvil Cell).

He also researched the structure and chemistry of phyllosilicates, radioactive dating of volcanic and Precambrian rocks and hydrothermal systems.

In 1994 he received the Roebling Medal and in 1997 the Bridgman Award . He is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science , the American Geophysical Union , the Geological Society of America , the Mineralogical Society of America, and the Geochemical Society .

He has been married since 1962 and has three children.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birth and career data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
  2. ^ Bassett The birth and development of laser heating in diamond anvil cells , Review of Scientific Instruments, Volume 72, 2001, pp. 1270-1272, Bassett Diamond Anvil Cell, 50th Birthday , High Pressure Research, Volume 29, 2009, p. 163 –186, Bassett Diamond Anvil Cell , in Encyclopedia of Condensed Matter Physics, Elsevier 2005
personal data
SURNAME Bassett, William A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bassett, William Akers
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American geologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 3, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York