Ernest (Ernie) Henry Nickel (born Ernst Heinrich Nickel on 31 August 1925 in

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, died on 18 July 2009) was a mineralogist from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

who emigrated to Australia. He is best known as an editor of the ninth edition of the Nickel-Strunz classification together with Karl Hugo Strunz.

Education

Nickel received his B.Sc. in 1950 and his M.Sc. in 1951 from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. For his PhD he attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, from which he graduated in 1953.

Work

Following his studies he worked for the Canadian Department of Mines and Technical Surveys (CANMET). In 1971 he moved to Australia to work for the

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

(CSIRO). He continued to work there even after retiring in 1985. He was the president of the

Mineralogical Association of Canada Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...

from 1970 to 1971. He was Australian representative on the old Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names (CNMMN/ IMA) since 1974, and he was CNMMN vice-chairman on the side of the Canadian chairman Joseph (Joe) A. Mandarino (1983-1994). He created the 'Mineral database' together with Monte C. Nichols, and published over 120 papers and books. Together with Dorian Smith he helped oversee the IMA Subcommittee on Unnamed Minerals, which listed the unnamed minerals in the literature, and increased the list of approved mineral species from less than 3,000 to over 4,000. He made 24 first descriptions of minerals including

cuprospinel Cuprospinel is a mineral. Cuprospinel is an inverse spinel with the chemical formula CuFe2O4, where copper substitutes some of the iron cations in the structure. Its structure is similar to that of magnetite, Fe3O4, yet with slightly differe ...

, niocalite, wodginite, carrboydite, nickelblödite,

otwayite Otwayite, Ni2CO3(OH)2, is a hydrated nickel carbonate mineral. Otwayite is green, with a Mohs scale of hardness, hardness of 4, a specific gravity of 3.4, and crystallises in the orthorhombic system. Occurrence Otwayite is found in association ...

, nullaginite and

kambaldaite Kambaldaite, NaNi4(CO3)3(OH)3·3H2O, is an extremely rare hydrated sodium nickel carbonate mineral described from gossanous material associated with Kambalda type komatiitic nickel ore deposits at Kambalda, Western Australia, and Widgie Townsite n ...

. Nickel received numerous honors for his work. The mineral ernienickelite ( chalcophanite group) is named after him.

Selected publications

* *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nickel, Ernest Henry 1925 births 2009 deaths Canadian mineralogists University of Chicago alumni Canadian emigrants to Australia McMaster University alumni