2021 – Robert M. Hazen

2021 – Robert M. Hazen

Researcher at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory, now the Earth and Planets Laboratory, Washington DC, USA, and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Science at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.

Robert (Bob) Hazen is recognized as an outstanding researcher for his impressive contributions to basic mineralogy, as well as its application and popularization. His research straddles the boundaries between mineralogy, chemistry, physics and biology and has led to fundamental breakthroughs in science. Prof. Hazen’s publication record extends over 50 years and contains incisive and original contributions to a variety of topics ranging from crystallography to crystal chemistry at high pressure and high temperature, astrobiology, mineral ecology and evolution. He played a pivotal role in initiating a major international collaborative research platform, the Deep Carbon Observatory, and his studies on mineral ecology and evolution are truly unique. He is unequaled in science communication and very active in science education in the broadest sense.

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Research webpage

Wikipedia page

2022 – Patricia Dove

2022 – Patricia Dove

Distinguished Professor and C.P. Miles, Professor of Science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA.

Patricia Dove has made long-term, outstanding scientific contributions to the field of mineralogical sciences with seminal works that changed the way we think about nucleation, dissolution and growth of minerals in Earth surface environments and beyond. Dove’s research excels in the quantitative approach and the mechanistic understanding of processes. Her key finding, that mineral dissolution and growth are manifestations of identical processes, has revolutionised research on minerals in biogeochemical systems. She has inspired scientists with innovative experimental techniques and fundamental methodological developments. She pioneered truly multidisciplinary science across mineralogy, chemical physics, and biology that has spread into the materials, engineering and medical disciplines.

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Wikipedia page

University website