MINERALOGY REVIEWER
1809 – Wollaston invented the reflecting
HISTORY OF MINERALOGY
goniometer which permitted highly accurate or
Stone Age - the practice of mineralogical arts precise measurements of the positions of
was started by early humans. They made use of crystal faces
flint tools as shown evidently by cave paintings.
Red hematite and black manganese oxides were 1912 – Max Von Laue of the University of
used as pigments. Munich suggested Friedrich and knipping to
perform an experiment and demonstrate that
Bronze Age – other minerals were sought from crystals could diffract X- rays. Xray diffraction
which metals could be extracted. became a powerful method in the study of
minerals
327-287 BC – Theophrastus, a Greek
philosopher had made the first written work on 1913 – W.H. Bragg and W.L. Bragg published
minerals and to Pliny, who recorded 400 years the earliest crystal structure determinations
later the mineralogical thought of his time
1960 – Electron Microprobe helped in the study
1556 – publication of De Re Metallica by the of chemistry of minerals and is now routinely
German physician Georgius Agricola was made. used for the study of minerals, synthetic
Gives account on mining practices and first compounds and glasses.
factual account of mineral. The book was
translated into English from the Latin in 1912 by Between 1779 – 1848 – Berzelius, a Swedish
former President of the US, Herbert Hoover and chemist and his students studied the chemistry
his wife, Lou Henry Hoover. of minerals and developed the principles of our
present chemical classification of minerals
1669 – contribution was made to
crystallography by Nicholas Steno through his 1815 – Cordier, a French naturalist initiated the
study of the quartz crystal. He noted that immersion method which developed into an
despite their differences in origin, size or habit, important technique for the study of optical
the angles between corresponding faces are properties of mineral fragments. A mineral
constant. Crodierite was named after him.
1780 – Carangeot invented a device called 1828 – William Nicol, a Scotsman, invented a
contact goniometer for the measurement of polarizing device that permitted the systematic
interfacial crystal angles. study of the behavior of light in crystalline
substances. The device is known today as the
1783 – Rome de I’Lsle made an angular polarizing microscope.
measurement on crystals confirming Steno’s
work. Law of the Consistency of Interfacial Latter part of 19th Century – Federov,
Angle was formulated Schoenflies and Barlov developed theories for
the internal symmetry and order within crystals
1784 – Rene J. Hauy showed that crystals were which became the foundation of x-ray
built by tiny identical building blocks, which he crystallography
called integral molecules.
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY AND CRYSTAL CHEMISTRY
1801 – Hauy developed the Theory of Rational
Indences for Crystal Faces What is Mineral?
1. It must be naturally occurring
19th Century – rapid advances were made
- Formed by a natural process
- Synthetic products or those produced in the
laboratory are not considered minerals –
Synthetic Mineral
2. Crystalline Solid
- Consists of a single solid substance that
cannot be physically subdivided into simpler
chemical compounds
- Excludes gases and liquids
3. Has Definite Chemical Composition
- Means that atoms or groups of atoms must
occur in specific ratios. For ionic crystals
(i.e. most minerals) ratios of cations to
anions will be constrained by charged
balance, however atoms of similar charge
and ionic radius may substitute freely for
one another, hence definite but not fixed.
4. Has ordered internal structure
5. Inorganically formed
