George W. Brindley

George William Brindley
Born(1905-06-19)June 19, 1905
Stoke-on-Trent, England, UK
DiedOctober 23, 1983(1983-10-23) (aged 78)
State College, Pennsylvania, USA
EducationUniversity of Manchester
University of Leeds
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Leeds
Pennsylvania State University
Academic advisorsLawrence Bragg
Reginald W. James
Doctoral studentsRobert E. Newnham

George William Brindley (June 19, 1905 – October 23, 1983) was a British-American crystallographer and mineralogist. He was known for his study of clay minerals including the structure of kaolinites.[1][2][3]

Education and career

Brindley studied at University of Manchester in the laboratory of Sir Lawrence Bragg and Reginald W. James, where he obtained an BSc and an MSc in crystallography in 1928. He then moved to University of Leeds, obtaining a PhD in physics in 1933. He subsequently became a Lecturer and a Reader in X-ray physics at Leeds. Until 1945, his research focused on X-ray scattering in metals and its use in studying their lattice vibration and mechanical deformation phenomena.

After the World Wars II, his research interests switched to the study of minerals. In 1953, he became a professor of mineral sciences at Pennsylvania State University.[4] and he became emeritus professor in 1973. He was a founding member of the Materials Research Laboratory (now Materials Research Institute) at Penn State. Brindley is known for the works on crystal structure determination for the classes of minerals kaolinite, dickite, halloysite, serpentine, and chlorite.[1][5]

After his retirement from Penn State, he became a visiting professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of São Paulo, and University of the West Indies.

Honors and awards

Brindley received the Roebling Medal in 1970 from the Mineralogical Society of America for his work on clay minerals. He received an honorary doctorate from University of Louvain.[1] Since 1984, the Clay Minerals Society has established the annual George W. Brindley Clay Science Lecture in honor of him.[6]

Personal life

Brindley married Catherine F. Fenton on May 2, 1931. They had two children, S. Peter Brindley of Auckland, New Zealand, and Karin Patricia Milstrey of Denver, Colorado. Brindley was a descendent of James Brindley (1716–1772), a famous British engineer during the Industrial Revolution.[4]

Bibliography

  • Brindley, George W.; Brown, G. (1980). Crystal structures of clay minerals and their X-ray identification. London: Mineralogical Society. ISBN 0-903056-08-9. OCLC 7098302.

References

  1. ^ a b c Moll, William F. (1984). "George William Brindley—In Appreciation". Clays and Clay Minerals. 32 (1): 80. Bibcode:1984CCM....32...80M. doi:10.1346/CCMN.1984.0320111. ISSN 0009-8604. S2CID 99247530.
  2. ^ Brindley, G. W.; Robinson, Keith (1945). "Structure of Kaolinite". Nature. 156 (3970): 661–662. Bibcode:1945Natur.156R.661B. doi:10.1038/156661b0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4054610.
  3. ^ Brindley, G. W.; Keith Robinson (1946). "The structure of kaolinite". Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of the Mineralogical Society. 27 (194): 242–253. Bibcode:1946MinM...27..242B. doi:10.1180/minmag.1946.027.194.04. ISSN 0369-0148.
  4. ^ a b Newnham, Robert E. "Memorial of George W. Brindley" (PDF). American Mineralogist. 71: 1058–1059.
  5. ^ Sharp, J. H. (1984). "George W. Brindley". Clay Minerals. 19 (1): 117–119. Bibcode:1984ClMin..19..117S. doi:10.1180/claymin.1984.019.1.14. ISSN 0009-8558. S2CID 128640114.
  6. ^ "George W. Brindley Clay Science Lecture – The Clay Minerals Society". Retrieved 2022-05-17.