Alfred Edward "Ted" Ringwood | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1930-04-19)19 April 1930 |
| Died | 12 November 1993(1993-11-12) (aged 63) |
| Alma mater | Melbourne University |
| Awards | William Bowie Medal (1974) Mueller Medal (1975) Wollaston Medal (1988) V. M. Goldschmidt Award (1991) Clarke Medal (1992) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geochemistry,petrology,planetology |
| Institutions | Australian National University |
| Thesis | Studies in geochemistry (1956) |
| Academic advisors | Arthur Gaskin,Francis Birch |
| Notes | |
source:[1] | |
Alfred Edward "Ted" RingwoodFRSFAA (19 April 1930 – 12 November 1993) was an Australian experimentalgeophysicist andgeochemist, and the 1988 recipient of theWollaston Medal.[1][2][3]
The mineralringwoodite is named after him.
Ringwood was born in Kew, only child of Alfred Edward Ringwood. He attended Hawthorn West State School where he played cricket andAustralian Rules football. In 1943 he was successful in gaining a scholarship toGeelong Grammar School where he boarded. On matriculation, he enrolled in Geology a science degree at theUniversity of Melbourne where he held a Commonwealth Government Scholarship, and was awarded a resident scholarship atTrinity College. He represented the college and the university in football. He obtained First Class Honours degree in Geology and began a MSc degree in field-mapping and petrology of the Devonian Snowy River volcanics of northeastern Victoria, graduating with Honours in 1953. Ringwood then undertook a PhD, beginning an experimental study about the origin of metalliferous ore deposits, but later changed his research topic so as to apply geochemistry to an understanding of the structure of the Earth, in particular the mineralogical constitution of the Earth's mantle.[1]
In the late 1950s and 1960s Ringwood worked ongermanates. He discovered that they served as low-pressure analogue to high-pressuresilicates. With this insight he was able to predict that the phase changes of themantle mineralsolivine andpyroxene should occur in the Transition Zone. At theAustralian National University he began experimental study of silicates at high pressure, and in 1959 demonstrated that the iron end-member of olivine indeed transformed to the denserspinel structure, as did numerous germanate and germanate-silicate solid solutions. In 1966, Ringwood and Alan Major, the technical officer who worked with him from 1964 to 1993, synthesised the spinel form of(Mg,Fe)2SiO4, Also in 1966, the transformation of pureforsterite (Mg2SiO4) to spinel-like phase was achieved.
In 1969 a new mineral was discovered in fragments of theTenham meteorite which had the same crystal structure as the high pressure spinel polymorph of olivine. This was the first time that Ringwood's predicted polymorph was found in nature. Honouring the importance of Ringwood's work the mineral was namedringwoodite.[4] A team from theUniversity of Alberta have isolated terrestrial ringwoodite in a brown diamond specimen found in Brazil in 2008.[5] Their research suggests the presence of water deep within the Earth's mantle.
In 1978, his ANU team inventedsynroc, a possible means of safely storing and disposing of radioactive waste.
Ringwood died oflymphoma on 12 November 1993 at the age of 63.
Ringwood received numerous honours and awards for his work.[1]
TheEuropean Association of Geochemistry quinquennially awards aScience Innovation Award medal named in his honour for work in petrology and mineral physics.
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| Preceded by | Clarke Medal 1992 | Succeeded by |
