Abstract
THE announcement by the Geological Society that the Wollaston Medal—its highest honour—has been awarded to Dr. Arthur L. Day, will give widespread pleasure. Dr. Day's name will always be associated with the Geophysical Laboratory of Washington, of which he was the distinguished director from its foundation in 1907 until his retirement thirty years later. In 1900, very early in his career, Dr. Day was called upon by the Geological Survey of the United States to equip a laboratory in which the exact methods of physical chemistry could be applied to the study of rock-forming minerals; and the following year, in collaboration with Dr. E. T. Allen, he began his famous investigation of the isomorphism and thermal properties of the felspars. This research may be said to have introduced a new era in mineralogy and petrology. It proved so successful that the Carnegie Institution of Washington decided to erect a special laboratory for the study and measurement with the utmost possible precision of the factors involved in the formation of rocks. Dr. Day, already commended for his resourcefulness, experimental skill and tireless energy, became its director.
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Dr. Arthur L. Day. Nature 147, 171 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147171b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147171b0