Brian Mason | |
|---|---|
 Mason showing a slice of a Moon meteorite, May 1994 | |
| Born | Brian Harold Mason (1917-04-18)18 April 1917 Port Chalmers, New Zealand |
| Died | 3 December 2009(2009-12-03) (aged 92) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Alma mater | Stockholm University |
| Known for | Meteorite classification |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Mineralogical aspects of the system FeO - Fe2O3 - MnO - Mn2O3 (1943) |
| Doctoral advisor | Victor Moritz Goldschmidt |
| Doctoral students | Ross Taylor[1] |
Brian Harold Mason (18 April 1917 – 3 December 2009) was a New Zealandgeochemist andmineralogist who was one of the pioneers in the study ofmeteorites.[2] He played a leading part in understanding the nature of theSolar System through his studies ofmeteorites andlunar rocks. He also examined and classified thousands ofmeteorites collected fromAntarctica.[3][4]
Mason was born inPort Chalmers,Dunedin, in 1917 and was brought up inChristchurch. He was educated atChristchurch Boys' High School and studiedgeology andchemistry atCanterbury University College, graduatingMSc with first-class honours in 1939.[5] In November, he left for Norway to work towards a doctorate, arriving in January 1940, but along with a colleague who held a British passport fled to Sweden in May followingOperation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway. In 1943, he completed a PhD ingeochemistry at theStockholm University underVictor Goldschmidt[citation needed] and left the country for Britain.[6]
Mason returned to Christchurch where he was appointed lecturer in geology at Canterbury University College. He taught there for two years. In 1947, he was appointed professor of mineralogy atIndiana University where he was based for rest of his life. He was a curator of mineralogy at both theAmerican Museum of Natural History, New York, and theSmithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Mason died in Washington, D.C., on 3 December 2009[7] fromrenal failure. He was survived by his stepson, Frank W. Turner, who lived with Mason in Chevy Chase, MD.
His third wife, Margarita C. Babb, and mother of Frank Turner, died on 3 February 2009 due to complications frommultiple myeloma. They were married for 15 years. Mason was married two other times, first to Anne Marie Linn and then to Virginia Powell; both marriages ended in divorce. He had a son, George, with his second wife. George died in a mountain climbing accident in 1981 at the age of 20.
