The Commission on New Minerals and several universities named a recently-discovered mineral after a distinguished UNM professor.
Researchers at the California Institution of Technology named a mineral discovered in 2003 “Brearleyite,” after professor Adrian Brearley, chair of the UNM Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, for his research in meteorite mineralogy.
“The mineral and the mineral name have been approved by the Commission on New Minerals of the International Mineralogical Association,” the American Mineralogist publication wrote in its August-Septempter issue. “The name is … in recognition of his many contributions to meteorite mineralogy.”
Brearley said he is honored by the recognition.
“I’m deeply honored and humbled to say the least,” he told UNM Today. “It doesn’t happen to too many people.”
Brearleyite has a light olive color under diffused light, according to the American Mineralogist. It is an extremely rare, fine-grained mineral found in 2003 in a meteorite located in Northwest Africa, according to the publication.
Researches believe it formed due to a reaction of krotite with hot, Chlorine-bearing gases on a small asteroid 4.56 billion years ago. Three thin, round sections of material that contain Brearleyite have been catalogued in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Brearley received his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, Great Britain in 1984. More than 70 of his works have been published.
