If you go to http://www.mindat.org/min-47892.html you will see the mineral data sheet for the mineral hollisterite, a monoclinic aluminum iron alloy with the chemical formula Al₃Fe, recently named in honor of our own Lincoln S. Hollister, professor emeritus. The discovery of hollisterite and several other new minerals, including the first natural occurrence of a quasicrystal, icasahedrite (Al₆₃Cu₂₆Fe₁₁ with five-fold symmetry), was announced at last month’s 79th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Berlin, Germany. [1] Congratulations to Lincoln for this great and well-deserved honor!

Don’t look for hollisterite to be displayed in The Great Hall mineral cases or to show up on GEO378 lab exams, however, as its occurrence is currently limited to micron-scale grains in the Khatyrka CV3 carbonaceous chondritic meteorite, from Russia. 

Co-discoverer Luca Bindi of the University of Florence attests, “I consider Lincoln’s contributions, all of them, to be among the greatest achievements in mineral and petrological sciences in the last half century. His work and vision did as much as anyone in taking mineral and petrological sciences from the 20th to the 21st century, much as Linus Pauling’s fundamental work in crystal chemistry did to bring us from the first to the second half of the 20th century.”

At this month’s annual meeting of the Geological Society of America meeting in Denver, there will be several events honoring Lincoln and his career.  If you are going to the meeting, we hope to see you there! Click on the link to see more details about hollisterite and the special events honoring Lincoln at the upcoming GSA meeting in Denver.

• A pre-meeting “Visit to the Regional Aluminum Silicate Triple-Point Metamorphic Rocks of Northern New Mexico: A Field Trip to Honor the Career Contributions of Lincoln Hollister to Petrology and Tectonics.”
• T155 entitled “Fifty Years of Innovation in Petrology and Orogenic Systems II: A Tribute to Lincoln Hollister” consists of a full day of oral presentations on Monday Sept 26, and a poster session on Tuesday afternoon Sept 27. 
• A pre-reception starting at 6:15 on Monday Sept 26 in Mineral Hall G of the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center, prior to the 7-9:30pm Princeton Alumni reception.