FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Tom Mazanec]

The IMA was founded in 1958, the same year I was born.
In my B.S. field of study, IAU was founded in 1919.
Why didn't mineralogists organize decades earlier, if only by inspiration from the astronomers?

[lluis]

Dear Mazanec

I was born two years before you. IMA was born when the need arose. I do not agree with them in many things, but they are better than nothing.

More things we will see, I hope

With best wishes

LLuís

[newryqs]

Just based on numbers of species, the biological world had to respond earlier and faster in keeping track of what was really new committees of specialists were organized to evaluate species descriptions. Minerals are easier to vet, because the data are essentially numerical and can be vetted without a photo or drawing or even a specimen in hand. Historically, the authors of systematic mineral books were the arbiters of a species' validity. Previously, in the early days, the authors would fight over validity. (Yes, there are still those kinds of people.) By 1850, James Dana was enough of an authority, that he was able to pass judgement with enough influence that he was the equivalent of the IMA in the 19th century. There was a very strong mineralogical faculty at Yale University up until the early death of Samuel Penfield in 1907. William E. Ford was not the heir apparent, even though he struggled through several revisions of the "Textbook." The mantel of arbitration of mineral validity occurred with the transfer of the publishing contract for the System of Mineralogy to Harvard University. The effort in writing a new System was greatly aided by the Penrose Bequest. After Palache died, Frondel was partly diverted by the uranium researches through the mid-1950s. It was during this time period that it began to be realized that changes were occurring so rapidly in the mineralogical sciences that a full-scale international agency was required. There were also various other influences that were in play, but this would be the short-short version. The full-story would fill a book, which I'm also working on.

[Pete Modreski]

Thanks, that was a very good summary of how mineralogical (a word fails me for this... systematization? ) evolved. Thank you... newryqs, whoever you are!

[newryqs]

Van King

[Pete Modreski]

That's what I was guessing, Van. Thank you!

[Riccardo Modanesi]

Hi to everybody!
I would have an opinion about. But I think it's not only an opinion, it's history. From 1850 to 1958 there were several wars in europe and even the only war the States had to face directly home! And moreover there had been both of the World Wars!
Just after the World War II the world felt the need of creating international standards, not only for minerals, but for all of the items too! And after the World War II the scientific research made it's decisive step to standardize the nomenclature of all of it's items.
If anybody has a different opinion, please let me know.
Greetings from Italy by Riccardo.

[newryqs]

Science doesn't thrive in a vacuum, of course. Times change. Standards changed. In particular, the expectation of more rigorous standards applied to science evolved. Early Science was mostly self-funded. Occasionally, a patron would support a scientist, but even Joseph Priestley's research at Bowood House probably wouldn't have been done without Priestley being paid as the family tutor. Thomas Nuttall's botanical researches were funded by a naturalist patron and that support also permitted him to also dabble in mineralogy. When Nuttall was curator of the Harvard Herbarium, he still aspired to be the professor of mineralogy. Science of all kind continued to became costlier and became better funded. The self-funded researcher became increasingly rare in the mid-19th century, In parallel, scientific journals didn't really want to keep publishing minor feuds among scientists and journal editing increasingly improved from spelling and grammar concerns to content concerns. Some journals published by universities, or entities such as the Franklin Institute, had a built-in editorial staff in the fact that they had an excellent faculty. While authors of mineralogical books could achieve success through independent research (and copying!), by the late 19th century, outside editors became necessary. The transition from self-support, through institutional support (via a teaching job, etc., and eventually business grants or government grants, meant that either institutional prestige or commercial profit demanded that articles and books had to be held to a high standard. Supported science expected better results from research. In the case of wars or economic depressions, non-strategic research always suffered. The establishment of the International Mineralogical Association wasn't particularly inspired by peacetime so much as the rapid advances in technology, which may or may not have indirectly depended on wartime inventions. The microprobe was not invented in France because a war ended. The IMA was initially an informal group of leading mineralogists, from colleges, government geological surveys, museum curators, and supported scientists. Perhaps the most influential were Mike Fleischer, Max Hey, and Hugo Strunz, but there is a long list of notables who organized to improve the essence of mineralogy. It is important to note that there was also a scarcity of systematic mineralogies. Dana's System seventh edition was taking a long time. If war was a factor, Harry Berman's death was certainly significant. The first two volumes were produced after Charles Palache retired and on Palache's death in 1954, Frondel was the last author standing. As had been the case previously, many individual mineral studies were given to students as projects and there was a continuous supply of systematic mineralogists graduating from Harvard. As noted, the government grants for studying uranium minerals resulted in a strong push to understand those species and by 1958 Frondel's Systematic Mineralogy of Uranium and Thorium is still a very useful reference. However, when Frondel returned to Dana System 7th, the only volume produced was on quartz related minerals as that was the research he received funding for during WWII. If anything, war resulted in advance in knowledge only on war use minerals. Cliff's retirement gave him opportunity to work further, but by then the process had changed. Mike Fleischer was becoming increasingly influential in vetting new minerals, while Max Hey and many European mineralogists, acting in conjunction with the fledgling IMA, narrowed the gate for new mineral definitions. Magazines might still publish new names that had not been submitted to the IMA, but the establishment finally won out. Particularly important was the influence on the Committee of New Minerals and New Mineral Names. Most recently, the IMA has increased their grip on mineralogical nomenclature by formalizing root names - a process that had been suggested before the IMA when Levinson suggested that there shouldn't be a new root name for then difficult to determine rare earth elements.
As a postscript, when I was at Ward's in 1980, I made a proposal to Wiley to begin an 8th edition of Dana's System, written by a team of 50 international mineralogists of note outlined in the proposal. I was interviewed by Wiley, but the agent's next stop was University of Chicago to see Joe Smith and, while there, Paul Moore convinced Wiley that he was a logical author. About the same time, Richard Gaines was awarded the contract for Dana's Textbook and five authors eventually changed the emphasis of the Textbook to the System. Before Gene Foord was diagnosed with cancer, he asked me to work on some chapters for him: tourmalines, olivines, axinites, beryl, etc. After Gene was diagnosed with cancer, he asked if I would do more work and he solicited some private funding from collectors. The easy minerals evaporated and I was assigned the kaolinite group, smectites, serpentines, etc., but that was appropriate, especially as my Ph. D. was working on clay minerals. I also did all of an entire class of the System, because of some concerns about them and Dick re-did an additional entire class. Unfortunately, certain pressures were at work and the authors were never sent a proof copy. That wouldn't have been a concern, except that all authors had submitted formatted and individually review classes as electronic copy, but for no understandable reason, the entire manuscript was re-typed! My work was submitted to Wiley first and was typed first. The typist didn't do too bad and worked carefully, but when the other authors sent in their copy, the goal changed to just get something into the data file. The decision to print the book without correcting the proof is a complicated story. Sorry to ramble. It's early in the morning and coffee now awaits.

[Jordi Fabre]

Woow!

Thanks to share Van...