Moriarty Science Seminar: Modern mineralogy at the Smithsonian NMNH

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Modern mineralogy at the Smithsonian NMNH

Speaker: Gabriela Farfan, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Abstract:The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is renowned for its National Gem and Mineral Collection that encompasses the American “crown jewels,” such as the Hope Diamond, world class mineral specimens, and hundreds of thousands of reference specimens for use in research. This presentation will be a tour of some of the most recent highlights that have been added to the National collection, as well as a behind-the-scenes tour of modern mineralogical research being done by Dr. Gabriela Farfan and her colleagues in the Department of Mineral Sciences. The first research example is a gem science project on the origin of trapiche-like inclusion patterns in quartz from Inner Mongolia, China. The second is an example of environmental biomineralogy and how we can use crystallography and mineralogy to learn more about how coral skeletons and mollusk shells grow under changing aquatic environments.
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