2009 – Frank C. Hawthorne
Distinguished Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Canada
Frank Hawthorne recognized and refined systematic concepts of chemical bonding at the atomic level which have immensely improved our general understanding of mineral crystal chemistry and the factors that affect the crystallographic architecture and chemical compositions of minerals. The results are seminal and wide-ranging contributions to mineral groups as varied as the borates, sulfates, phosphates, alumino-fluorides, vanadates and beryllates on one hand, and common major rock-forming silicates on the other. No student of the geosciences will leave university untouched by some aspect of Frank Hawthorne’s crystal-chemical or spectroscopic contributions to amphibole, staurolite or tourmaline. In addition, Frank Hawthorne has been involved in the discovery of 48 new mineral species, 14 of which have involved common rock-forming mineral groups.