Goldschmidt geochemistry: ionic radii and element classification
Geoquímica de Goldschmidt: radios iónicos y clasificación de elementos
- Date
- 1923-1937 · confidence high
- Place
- University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Credited to
- Victor Moritz Goldschmidt
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Goldschmidt used X-rays to measure ionic radii and showed that ion substitution in minerals follows rules of size and charge. He classified elements as lithophile, chalcophile, siderophile and atmophile, the basis of modern geochemistry.
The nine volumes of 'Geochemische Verteilungsgesetze der Elemente' were published in Oslo between 1923 and 1938. Goldschmidt, of Jewish origin, fled in 1942 to Sweden and then Britain.
What it led to
- Goldschmidt's rules of ion substitution for minerals
- tables of the cosmic abundance of elements (1937)
- geochemistry of the Earth, of meteorites and of rocks